Abstract

One of the paradoxes of the post-apartheid state is the appearance and proliferation of apartheid-resembling divisions on a local level: a combination of relatively ad hoc street enclosures and minutely planned gated residential developments. These illuminate continuing tensions within South African society but also a broader, even global trend. Such privately organised enclaves represent a now almost globally ubiquitous model for facilitating practical forms of non-state association and disassociation. In these terms, they exercise increasing influence over the negotiation of collective identity and difference at the most fundamental level.

P. Stuart Robinson, PhD Associate Professor Department of Sociology, Political Science and Community Planning University of Tromsø.

P. Stuart Robinson, author of The Politics of International Crisis Escalation, received his B.A. from the University of Leicester in 1981, his M.A. from the University of Calgary in 1984 and his PhD from the University of British Columbia in 1991.

He is currently working on a monograph comparing walled towns in late medieval England to contemporary gated housing developments. Robinson is also a participant in an international research collaboration based at the University of Tromsø’s Centre for Peace Studies on post-conflict peace-building.