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Community policing amidst diversity: exploring the role of inter-group trust in two Cape Town neighbourhoods

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2020

Ann K. Karreth
Ann K. Karreth*
Affiliation:
Department of Politics and International Relations, Bomberger Hall, Ursinus College, Collegeville, PA, USA
*
Email: akarreth@ursinus.edu
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Abstract

Why are some diverse communities in sub-Saharan Africa able to achieve mutually beneficial collective action while others remain trapped in social dilemmas? This paper argues that inter-group trust plays an important role in explaining when and where communities succeed in collective endeavours. It develops an argument that illustrates how demographic contextual variables structure patterns of inter-group trust and prospects for local goods provision in diverse communities. It then assesses the argument by analysing community policing in two heterogeneous neighbourhoods in Cape Town, South Africa. The paper demonstrates how crosscutting cleavage structures in one Cape Town suburb bolstered the development of inter-group trust across the community, thus helping the community garner participation in community policing. It also documents how reinforcing cleavage structures in another Cape Town suburb has helped to suppress the development of inter-group trust, making the resolution of collective action problems more difficult.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 57 , Issue 4 , December 2019 , pp. 497 - 517
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2020

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Footnotes

The author gratefully acknowledges the financial and research support of Ursinus College as well as the helpful guidance and feedback from Shaheen Mozaffar, Robert Mattes, Shane Singh, Ryan Bakker and two anonymous reviewers. The author also thanks the Center for Social Science Research at the University of Cape Town for hosting her as a Visiting Research Fellow, which made this research possible.

References

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