Politics by Other Means? The Political Economy of Xenophobic Violence in Post- Apartheid South Africa
Abstract
Although South Africa has always been a major hub within a historically entrenched system of regional labor mobility, migration has diversified and increased since the country’s transition to democracy and reintegration into the global economy in 1994. Indeed, due to its perceived economic prosperity, political stability and human rights record, post-apartheid South Africa has become a preferred destination for increasing numbers of immigrants (predominantly from African countries, but also increasingly from Eastern Europe and Asia) seeking a better socio-economic future but also protection from civil wars or political persecution. Once in South Africa, however, immigrants (particularly the poor or the less wealthy) are often met with discrimination, hostility and violent exclusion by local communities and institutions.
Author: Jean Pierre Misago
