Metropolitics

The Professionalization of Migrant Assistance in Tunisia

Camille Cassarini & translated by Oliver Waine — 2022-04-15T05:00:00Z

In Tunisia, the management of sub-Saharan migration has in recent years become a new sector of employment. Camille Cassarini highlights the effects of this professionalization, a key element of which is the integration of state objectives for checks and controls on migrants by NGOs.
In Tunisia, the issue of the reception of irregular sub-Saharan migrant populations is a relatively recent one. Up until 2011, migration of this kind was managed within a national framework – primarily repressive

- From the Field / Tunisia, Africa, North Africa, NGOs, migration, migration crisis, migrants, reception, law

Algeria's Hirak: When a Social Movement Puts Citizenship Under the Microscope

Islam Amine Derradji & Amel Gherbi & translated by Oliver Waine — 2021-03-26T06:00:00Z

The popular mobilization that rose up in Algeria in 2019 was not only a revolt against living conditions that had become unacceptable. It was also a movement that turned the country's streets into a stage for the organized construction of collective and political life by citizens seeking to revisit their history and assert their independence.
Since February 22, 2019, Algeria has been living to the rhythm of unprecedented mobilizations. Millions of Algerians took to the streets to oppose

- From the Field / North Africa, Maghreb, Africa, collective action, mobilization, civic organizing, demonstrations, protest, Algeria, social movement, citizenship, citizens

Land Titling: A Tool, not a Panacea

Kareem Ibrahim & Deena Khalil — 2016-12-20T06:00:00Z

The government of Egypt has long relied on land titling to limit the growth of informal urban residential settlements. Kareem Ibrahim and Deena Khalil argue that while titling addresses problems stemming from informality in some cases, the benefits of this strategy are exaggerated, particularly given that low-income households are excluded from formal credit markets regardless. In Egypt as elsewhere, titling initiatives fail to address more fundamental issues of poverty and marginalization.

- From the Field / property, land, Africa, Global South, informality, Egypt, North Africa, Cairo, land tenure, land rights, land titles, property rights, property titles, property tenure, land titling, informal housing, access to credit

Securing Land Tenure in Egypt: Who Needs Registered Titles?

David Sims — 2016-06-14T05:00:00Z

David Sims challenges popular wisdom on property-rights regimes in non-Western nations by questioning the relevance of formal property titling for poor urban households in Egypt, where informal and semi-formal solutions provide the majority of households with surprisingly secure forms of possession. In light of this—and in the absence of a strong national state—can something as complex and culturally idiosyncratic as property relations be objectified as a development problem in need of a