Rethinking Regulation beyond the Normative Threshold

Mechanisms of Control and Access to the Central Market of Kinshasa

Bibliographic Data

ID2303596
AuthorsHéritier Mesa (0000-0002-1673-6501, Université Libre de Bruxelles, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume59
Issue3
Pages395-417
Publication date2024-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAfrica Spectrum (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-0397 • E-ISSN: 1868-6869
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/00020397241288617
OpenAlexW4404119262
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited44

The article explores regulation practices governing access to the central market of Kinshasa. It argues that, contrary to conventional ideas, urban trading places do not escape state regulation, nor are they outside the realm of legitimacy. These places and the economic activities that take place in them are highly regulated. Yet, their regulations do not always conform to official standards. The dominant binary divide of formal/informal obscures different processes and scales of effective regulation. Hence, to better understand how these places and activities are regulated, it is necessary to go beyond the binary divide. Drawing on practical norms' literature, the article shows the multiplicity of overlapping norms, their corresponding logics, and how different actors navigate regulation. Regulations can have diverse effects on people. Some deviations from official laws have reassuring effects, leading to forms of organisation that serve traders' needs or provide them with space for resistance against exclusion. However, certain other deviations serve to extract more resources from vendors and can lead to the (re)production of social inequalities

Control (management · Economics · Management · Market economy · Market regulation · Normative · Political science · Positive economics · Sociology · African Studies and Ethnography · China's Global Influence and Migration · Law · Migration, Identity, and Health · Psychology · Social Psychology