Zed Books The Agonistic City?: State-Society Strife in Johannesburg (Politics and Society in Urban Africa)

Product Description An exploration of Johannesburg's post-apartheid's city administration's governance of conflict from 1996 to the current day, in the case of service delivery protests and shifts in city policy. The author, Li Pernegger, focuses in-depth on the water wars in Orange Farm, insurgent informal traders in the inner city, and the billing battle fought by the middle class.This book provides deep insights into facets of protests: from the local state's qualification of the conflicts; its portrayals of protestors; its agonistic and antagonistic responses to protestors' claims; to power dynamics and the forms of agreement reached.Pernegger considers what the practical prospects of agonism might be for the local government to regard city strife in its practices of governance as a constructive - rather than destructive - force for change, and the realisation of democratic ideals for its ordinary citizens. Review This book combines an innovative approach to the investigation of state-society relations with a rich account of Johannesburg's contested governance. Its depth and insight will be valued by scholars of Urban Studies, Politics, and Planning. --Glyn Williams, University of SheffieldWriting with both intellectual and practical conviction, Li Pernegger's insights into the deeply political and at times violent struggles over services in post-apartheid Johannesburg is sensitive and nuanced, not least because of her command of how government works at the city scale. --Susan Parnell, University of Bristol About the Author Li Pernegger recently completed a postdoctoral fellow at the Witwatersrand School of Governance, South Africa and a former official in city and national governments. She has over 25 years of project, programme and strategic management experience in complex built-environment and socio-economic initiatives. She is currently an advisor on urban development and local governance matters to the National Treasury of South Africa.