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Meagher, Kate

Dr Kate Meagher

Department

Position held

Department of International Development

Associate Professor in Development Studies

Experience keywords:

Nigeria; Sub-Saharan Africa; West Africa; civil society; economic networks; enterprise clusters; informal economy; informal institutions; non-farm economy; non-state governance; rural development

Research summary > [Click to expand]

Kate Meagher has engaged in extensive empirical and theoretical research on the informal economy in rural and urban Africa, with a particular focus on Nigeria. Her current research interests include social networks and non-state governance in Africa, the politics of economic informality, enterprise clusters, vigilantism and organised crime, and new religious movements.

Sectors and industries to which research relates:

Policy and Regulatory Bodies

Countries and regions to which research relates:

Nigeria; Sub-Saharan Africa; West Africa

Languages:

French [Spoken: Intermediate, Written: Intermediate]

Media experience:

Radio

Contact Points

LSE phone number:

+44 (0)20 7849 4652

LSE email:

k.meagher@lse.ac.uk

Publications

2016

Meagher, Kate (2016) Taxing times: taxation, divided societies and the informal economy in Northern Nigeria Journal of Development Studies. ISSN 0022-0388

Meagher, Kate and Manna, Laura and Bolt, Maxim (2016) Introduction: Globalization, African Workers and the Terms of Inclusion Journal of Development Studies, 52 (4). 471-482. ISSN 0022-0388

Meagher, Kate (2016) The scramble for Africans: demography, globalisation and Africa’s informal labour markets The Journal of Development Studies, 52 (4). 483-497. ISSN 0022-0388

2015

Meagher, Kate (2015) Leaving no-one behind?: informal economies, economic inclusion, and Islamic extremism in Nigeria Journal of International Development, 27 (6). 835-855. ISSN 0954-1748

2014

Meagher, Kate (2014) Smuggling ideologies: from criminalization to hybrid governance in African clandestine economies African Affairs, 113 (453). 497-517. ISSN 0001-9909

Meagher, Kate (2014) Disempowerment from below: informal enterprise networks and the limits of political voice in Nigeria Oxford Development Studies, 42 (3). 419-438. ISSN 1360-0818

2013

Meagher, Kate (2013) The jobs crisis behind Nigeria's unrest Current History, 112 (754). 169-174. ISSN 0011-3530

Meagher, Kate (2013) Informality, religious conflict, and governance in northern Nigeria: economic inclusion in divided societies African Studies Rreview, 56 (3). 209-234. ISSN 0002-0206

2012

Meagher, Kate (2012) Weber meets Godzilla: social networks and the spirit of capitalism in East Asia and Africa Review of African Political Economy, 39 (132). 261-278. ISSN 0305-6244

Meagher, Kate (2012) The strength of weak states?: non-state security forces and hybrid governance in Africa Development and Change, 43 (5). 1073-1101. ISSN 0012-155X

2011

Meagher, Kate (2011) Informal economies and urban governance in Nigeria: popular empowerment or political exclusion? African Studies Review, 54 (2). 47-72. ISSN 0002-0206

Meagher, Kate (2011) Disempowerment from below: informal enterprise and the limits of popular governance in Nigeria. In: 4th European Conference on African Studies, 15-18 June 2011, Uppsala, Sweden

2010

Meagher, Kate (2010) Social capital or social exclusion: social networks and informal manufacturing in Nigeria In: Bryceson, D., (ed.) How Africa Works: Occupational Change, Identity and Morality. Practical Action. ISBN 9781853396915

Meagher, Kate (2010) Weber meets Godzilla: social networks and the spirit of capitalism. In: Celebrating Gavin Williams, 9-10 July 2010, Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

Meagher, Kate (2010) The empowerment trap: gender, poverty and the informal economy in sub-Saharan Africa In: Chant, Sylvia, (ed.) The International Handbook of Gender and Poverty: Concepts, Research, Policy. Edward Elgar Publishing, Gloucestershire, UK. ISBN 9781848443341

Meagher, Kate (2010) The politics of vulnerability: exit, voice and capture in three Nigerian informal manufacturing clusters In: Lindell, Ilda, (ed.) Africa’s Informal Workers: Collective Agency, Alliances and Transnational Organizing. Africa now. Zed Books, London, UK. ISBN 9781848134515

Meagher, Kate (2010) Networking for success: informal enterprise and popular associations in Nigeria In: Harriss-White, Barbara and Heyer, Judith, (eds.) The Comparative Political Economy of Development: Africa and South Asia. Routledge studies in development economics. Routledge, Oxford, UK, 158-178. ISBN 9780415552882

Meagher, Kate (2010) The tangled web of associational life: urban governance and the politics of popular livelihoods in Nigeria Urban Forum, 21 (3). 299-313. ISSN 1015-3802

Meagher, Kate (2010) Identity economics: social networks and the informal economy in Nigeria African issues. James Currey, Suffolk, UK. ISBN 9781847010162

2009

Meagher, Kate (2009) Trading on faith: religious movements and informal economic governance in Nigeria Journal of Modern African Studies, 47 (3). 397-423. ISSN 1469-7777

Meagher, Kate (2009) The informalization of belonging: Igbo informal enterprise and national cohesion from below Africa Development, 34 (1). 31-46. ISSN 0850-3907

Okonta, Ike and Meagher, Kate (2009) Legacies of Biafra: violence, identity and citizenship in Nigeria - introduction Africa Development, 34 (1). 1-8. ISSN 0850-3907

Meagher, Kate (2009) Culture agency and power: theoretical reflections on informal economic networks and political process DIIS Working Papers, 2009:27. Danish Institute for International Studies, Copenhagen, Denmark. ISBN 9788776053550

2008

Meagher, Kate (2008) Beyond the shadows: informal institutions and development in Africa - introduction Afrika Spectrum, 43 (1). ISSN 0002-0397

2007

Meagher, Kate (2007) Hijacking civil society: the inside story of the Bakassi Boys vigilante group of south-eastern Nigeria Journal of Modern African Studies, 45 (1). 89-115. ISSN 1469-7777

Meagher, Kate (2007) Manufacturing disorder: liberalization, informal enterprise and economic ‘ungovernance’ in African small firm clusters Development and Change, 38 (3). 473-503. ISSN 0012-155X

2006

Meagher, Kate (2006) Cultural primordialism and the post-structuralist imaginaire: plus ça change [review article] Africa: the Journal of the International African Institute, 76 (4). 590-597. ISSN 0001-9720

Meagher, Kate (2006) Social capital, social liabilities, and political capital: social networks and informal manufacturing in Nigeria African Affairs, 105 (421). 553-582. ISSN 0001-9909

2005

Meagher, Kate (2005) Social capital or analytical liability?: social networks and African informal economies Global Networks, 5 (3). 217-238. ISSN 1470-2266

2003

Meagher, Kate (2003) A back door to globalisation?: structural adjustment, globalisation & transborder trade in west Africa Review of African Political Economy, 30 (95). 57-75. ISSN 0305-6244

2001

Meagher, Kate (2001) The invasion of the opportunity snatchers: the rural-urban interface in northern Nigeria Journal of Contemporary African Studies, 19 (1). 39-54. ISSN 1469-9397

This book traces how social networks shape informal economic governance in Nigeria. Challenging culturalist notions of social capital or criminality, it explores the realities of informal economic change and network failure in contemporary Africa.

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