Negotiating Urban Citizenship
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Negotiating Urban Citizenship The Urban Poor, Brokers and the State in Mexico City and Khartoum Onderhandelen over Stedelijk Burgerschap: Stedelijke Armen, Tussenpersonen en de Staat in Mexico City en Khartoum (met een samenvatting in het Nederlands) Negociando la Ciudadanía Urbana: Los Pobres Urbanos, Intermediarios y el Estado en la Ciudad de México y Khartoum (con un resumen en español) اﻟﺘﻔـــــﺎوض ﻋﻠﻰ اﻟﻤﻮاطﻨــﺔ اﻟﺤﻀـــــﺮﻳﺔ: ﻓﻘراء اﻟﺣﺿر ، اﻟوﺳطﺎء ، واﻟدوﻟﺔ ﻓﻲ ﻛل ﻣن ﻣﯾﻛﺳﻛو ﺳﯾﺗﻲ واﻟﺧرطوم (ﻣﻊ ﻣﻠﺧص ﺑﺎﻟﻠﻐﺔ اﻟﻌرﺑﯾﺔ) Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit Utrecht op gezag van de rector magnificus, prof.dr. G.J. van der Zwaan, ingevolge het besluit van het college voor promoties in het openbaar te verdedigen op vrijdag 17 januari 2014 des middags te 12.45 uur. door Ingeborg Neeltje Maureen Denissen geboren op 31 mei 1978 te Cuijk en Sint Agatha Negotiating Urban Citizenship The Urban Poor, Brokers and the State in Mexico City and Khartoum Onderhandelen over Stedelijk Burgerschap: Stedelijke Armen, Tussenpersonen en de Staat in Mexico City en Khartoum (met een samenvatting in het Nederlands) Negociando la Ciudadanía Urbana: Los Pobres Urbanos, Intermediarios y el Estado en la Ciudad de México y Khartoum (con un resumen en español) اﻟﺘﻔـــــﺎوض ﻋﻠﻰ اﻟﻤﻮاطﻨــﺔ اﻟﺤﻀـــــﺮﻳﺔ: ﻓﻘراء اﻟﺣﺿر ، اﻟوﺳطﺎء ، واﻟدوﻟﺔ ﻓﻲ ﻛل ﻣن ﻣﯾﻛﺳﻛو ﺳﯾﺗﻲ واﻟﺧرطوم (ﻣﻊ ﻣﻠﺧص ﺑﺎﻟﻠﻐﺔ اﻟﻌرﺑﯾﺔ) Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit Utrecht op gezag van de rector magnificus, prof.dr. G.J. van der Zwaan, ingevolge het besluit van het college voor promoties in het openbaar te verdedigen op vrijdag 17 januari 2014 des middags te 12.45 uur. door Ingeborg Neeltje Maureen Denissen geboren op 31 mei 1978 te Cuijk en Sint Agatha Promotoren: Prof. Dr. D.A.N.M. Kruijt Prof. Dr. W.G. Pansters Prof. Dr. C.G. Koonings This dissertation was made possible through a partnership agreement of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs with Utrecht University called the “IS-Academie”. Contents List of figures and tables ........................................................................................... 7 Acknowledgements....................................................................................................9 Prologue ....................................................................................................................15 1. The Challenges of Urban Citizenship .................................................................17 1.1 Research design and methodology ....................................................................22 1.2 Outline of the book ............................................................................................36 2. Informality and citizenship: a conceptual framework ......................................39 2.1 Poverty and exclusion in the megacity ..............................................................39 Informality, violence and inequality ................................................................ 40 The paradox of urban citizenship ..................................................................... 43 2.2 Informality and the state ................................................................................... 45 Vertical and horizontal hybridity .......................................................................47 The grey zone: a myriad of connections ...........................................................50 2.3 Political agency in the grey zone ........................................................................51 2.4 Operationalising the grey zone .........................................................................56 3. Background: Mexico City and Khartoum ...........................................................61 3.1 Mexico City: advanced urbanism .......................................................................61 Urbanisation and popular neighbourhood formation .................................... 62 The democratic transition .................................................................................70 Urban governance framework .......................................................................... 75 3.2 Khartoum: a megacity in the making ...............................................................78 Urbanisation and popular neighbourhood formation .....................................79 One-party rule and the politics of survival .......................................................87 Urban governance framework ..........................................................................95 3.3 Conclusion: comparing poor people’s politics in Mexico City and Khartoum ...101 4. Urban exclusion in Mexico City and Khartoum .............................................. 105 4.1 Being poor in Iztapalapa.................................................................................. 105 Water scarcity ...................................................................................................106 Competition over space ...................................................................................108 (In)security as ‘el mejor gancho’ ..................................................................... 111 Making ends meet ............................................................................................. 115 Informality and stigmatisation.........................................................................118 4.2 Being poor in Mayo ..........................................................................................119 Dreaming of a plot in the capital .....................................................................119 Self-service(s) .....................................................................................................123 Scraping a living ............................................................................................... 127 In search for protection .................................................................................... 131 Ethnicity and stigmatisation .............................................................................135 4.3 Conclusion: exclusion and citizenship in Iztapalapa and Mayo ...................138 5. Fields of negotiation: opportunities and resources in a grey zone ..................141 5.1 Introducing the players .....................................................................................141 The providers .................................................................................................... 142 The claimants ................................................................................................... 148 5.2 Connecting the pieces ......................................................................................155 Official intermediation .................................................................................... 156 The role of political parties ...............................................................................161 Patterns of brokerage .......................................................................................162 5.3 Brokerage and political power in Iztapalapa and Mayo ................................. 167 Brokerage in a context of multiparty politics: competitive clientelism ........ 167 Brokerage in the context of one party rule ..................................................... 172 5.4 Conclusion: brokered citizenship ................................................................... 178 6. Navigating the grey zone ...................................................................................181 6.1 Claim-making by the urban poor ....................................................................181 Trusting people, more than offices: the importance of local leaders ............ 184 Brokerage and negotiation tactics ................................................................... 188 6.2 Government responses: in search for legitimacy and control .....................194 Enhancing legitimacy: vote-buying .................................................................194 Controlling state society interaction: targeting the local leaders ................. 200 Repression as an ultimate resort .................................................................... 208 6.3 “We are a governability factor” .........................................................................213 Acquiring and maintaining a power base .......................................................213 The relative autonomy of the brokers ............................................................. 218 6.4 It takes three to tango ..................................................................................... 223 7. Discussion: negotiating urban citizenship ......................................................227 7.1 Claim-making by the urban poor in Mexico City and Khartoum .................227 7.2 Democracy versus authoritarianism in the grey zone: unipolar and multipolar brokerage ................................................................. 237 Summary ................................................................................................................ 241 Samenvatting ........................................................................................................ 249 Resumen ................................................................................................................ 257 1 267..................................................................................................................