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Deconstructing Gangsterism in the Western Cape Policy Response to the National Anti-Gangsterism Strategy

In the Province of the Western Cape in South Africa, gangsterism continues to be associated with issues of violence, crime and localised conflicts, affecting residents on the Cape Flats in particular. Although the country's legal framework promotes human rights and despite ongoing interventions by l...

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Main Author: Viltoft, Clara Dybbroe
Other Authors: van de Spuy, Elrena
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: School For Advanced Legal Studies 2021
Subjects:
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access_status_str Open Access
author Viltoft, Clara Dybbroe
author2 van de Spuy, Elrena
author_browse Viltoft, Clara Dybbroe
van de Spuy, Elrena
author_facet van de Spuy, Elrena
Viltoft, Clara Dybbroe
author_sort Viltoft, Clara Dybbroe
collection Thesis
description In the Province of the Western Cape in South Africa, gangsterism continues to be associated with issues of violence, crime and localised conflicts, affecting residents on the Cape Flats in particular. Although the country's legal framework promotes human rights and despite ongoing interventions by law enforcement, the effectiveness of government responses is still debated by politicians as well as the general public. Using Carol Bacchi's ‘What's the Problem Represented to Be' (2009) approach to policy analysis, the aim of this dissertation is to deconstruct the Western Cape's political problematisation and representation of the ‘problem' by analysing the Western Cape Provincial Policy response to the National Anti-Gangsterism Strategy. From a social constructivist angle, this dissertation presumes policy as prescriptive guidelines that dictate action. Further, the aim is to discover how the problem is understood and represented and thus analyse which discourses and material responses are generated and which are not. The findings confirm that there is a discrepancy between what is articulated in policy and what actually happens on the ground, i.e. between discourse and practice. Moreover, it will be argued that sustained anti-gang intervention demand that structural obstacles and inequality in lieu of the spill over from the Apartheid era are addressed. Taking notice of these aspects, the minor dissertation concludes that it is critical to figure out how best to transform conflict conditions in areas with high levels of gang violence with the view to allowing both youth groups and individuals to exert agency and become empowered in pursuit of individual and community resilience.
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institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
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license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2021
publishDateRange 2021
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spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/33073 Deconstructing Gangsterism in the Western Cape Policy Response to the National Anti-Gangsterism Strategy Viltoft, Clara Dybbroe van de Spuy, Elrena Criminology, Law and Society In the Province of the Western Cape in South Africa, gangsterism continues to be associated with issues of violence, crime and localised conflicts, affecting residents on the Cape Flats in particular. Although the country's legal framework promotes human rights and despite ongoing interventions by law enforcement, the effectiveness of government responses is still debated by politicians as well as the general public. Using Carol Bacchi's ‘What's the Problem Represented to Be' (2009) approach to policy analysis, the aim of this dissertation is to deconstruct the Western Cape's political problematisation and representation of the ‘problem' by analysing the Western Cape Provincial Policy response to the National Anti-Gangsterism Strategy. From a social constructivist angle, this dissertation presumes policy as prescriptive guidelines that dictate action. Further, the aim is to discover how the problem is understood and represented and thus analyse which discourses and material responses are generated and which are not. The findings confirm that there is a discrepancy between what is articulated in policy and what actually happens on the ground, i.e. between discourse and practice. Moreover, it will be argued that sustained anti-gang intervention demand that structural obstacles and inequality in lieu of the spill over from the Apartheid era are addressed. Taking notice of these aspects, the minor dissertation concludes that it is critical to figure out how best to transform conflict conditions in areas with high levels of gang violence with the view to allowing both youth groups and individuals to exert agency and become empowered in pursuit of individual and community resilience. 2021-03-03T01:02:29Z 2021-03-03T01:02:29Z 2020 2021-03-02T18:51:57Z Master Thesis Masters MPhil http://hdl.handle.net/11427/33073 eng application/pdf School For Advanced Legal Studies Faculty of Law
spellingShingle Criminology, Law and Society
Viltoft, Clara Dybbroe
Deconstructing Gangsterism in the Western Cape Policy Response to the National Anti-Gangsterism Strategy
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Deconstructing Gangsterism in the Western Cape Policy Response to the National Anti-Gangsterism Strategy
title_full Deconstructing Gangsterism in the Western Cape Policy Response to the National Anti-Gangsterism Strategy
title_fullStr Deconstructing Gangsterism in the Western Cape Policy Response to the National Anti-Gangsterism Strategy
title_full_unstemmed Deconstructing Gangsterism in the Western Cape Policy Response to the National Anti-Gangsterism Strategy
title_short Deconstructing Gangsterism in the Western Cape Policy Response to the National Anti-Gangsterism Strategy
title_sort deconstructing gangsterism in the western cape policy response to the national anti gangsterism strategy
topic Criminology, Law and Society
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/33073
work_keys_str_mv AT viltoftclaradybbroe deconstructinggangsterisminthewesterncapepolicyresponsetothenationalantigangsterismstrategy