Controlling the Capital Political Dominance in the Urbanizing World

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Authoritarianism is on the rise globally, with more than twice as many countries experiencing democratic decline as democratic enhancement in recent years. This has been occurring simultaneously with unprecedented rates of urbanization in many parts of the world, raising questions about the role of cities - often considered the focal points of democratic deepening - in this authoritarian turn. While most literature considers authoritarianism on the national scale, the chapters in this book train their gaze on capital cities, which as 'containers' of both capital and sovereignty are spaces in which authoritarian dominance is increasingly built, contested, maintained, and undone. Focusing on some of the world's fastest urbanizing regions - Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia - the book explores the multiple ways in which authoritarian regimes have been attempting to build and sustain long-term dominance in capital cities in order to meet the challenge of urban political resistance.

The diverse selection of case studies presented here spans governing regimes that have recently tried to build urban dominance and spectacularly failed, as well as those that have managed to hold onto power by constantly evolving strategies for dominance that limit the potential for urban opposition to tip into regime overthrow. With chapters on Addis Ababa, Colombo, Dhaka, Harare, Kampala, and Lusaka, Controlling the Capital offers the first cross-regional comparative study of the relationship between cities and political dominance. It contributes to debates on authoritarianism and authoritarian durability, urbanization, political contestation and resistance, the politics of development, and the prospects for democracy.

Tom Goodfellow, Professor of Urban Studies and International Development, University of Sheffield,David Jackman, Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, University of Oxford

Tom Goodfellow is a Professor of Urban Studies and International Development at the University of Sheffield. His research focuses on the comparative political economy of urban development in Africa, particularly the politics of urban land and transportation, conflicts around infrastructure and housing, migration, and urban institutional change. He is author of Politics and the Urban Frontier: Transformation and Divergence in Late Urbanizing East Africa (OUP, 2022) and co-author of Cities and Development (Routledge 2016).

David Jackman is a Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellow at the University of Oxford. His research interests lie in the political economy of crime and violence in South Asia, with a focus on Bangladesh, where he has worked since 2010. His work on gangsterism, labour politics, party-police relations, and beggar bosses have been published in journals such as Development and Change, Modern Asian Studies, and Journal of Contemporary Asia. His current project examines the pirates of the Sundarbans in Bangladesh and West Bengal.

1. Introduction: Political dominance in an urbanizing world, Tom Goodfellow and David Jackman
2. Generativity and repression: Strategies for urban control, Tom Goodfellow and David Jackman
3. Carrot, stick, and statute: Elite strategies and contested dominance in Kampala, Nansozi K. Muwanga, Paul I. Mukwaya, and Tom Goodfellow
4. The politics of dominating Addis Ababa, 2005-2018, Eyob Gebremariam
5. Dominating Dhaka, David Jackman
6. Fragile dominance? The rise and fall of urban strategies for political settlement maintenance and change in Zambia, Marja Hinfelaar, Danielle Resnick, and Sishuwa Sishuwa
7. Geographies of urban dominance: The politics of Harare's periphery, JoAnn McGregor and Kudzai Chatiza
8. Beautification, governance, and spectacle in post-war Colombo, Iromi Perera and Jonathan Spencer
9. Conclusions: Within and beyond urban dominance, Tom Goodfellow and David Jackman