Meagher, Kate


Dr Kate Meagher  

Department

Position held

Department of International Development

Lecturer in Development Studies

Experience keywords:

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

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:

Sub-Saharan Africa; West Africa; Nigeria

Languages:

French [Spoken: Intermediate, Written: Intermediate]

Media experience:

Radio

Contact Points

LSE phone number:

+44 (0)20 7849 4652

Publications

The following references are sourced from LSE Research Online|. References that are linked lead to the full text.

2013

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

2012

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

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). pp. 261-278. ISSN 0305-6244

2011

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).

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

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) 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. Zed Books, London, UK. ISBN 9781848134515

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

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

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, Oxford, UK, pp. 158-178. ISBN 9780415552882

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) 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).

2009

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

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

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

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

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

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). pp. 89-115. ISSN 1469-7777

2006

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

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). pp. 590-597. ISSN 0001-9720

2005

Meagher, Kate (2005) Social capital or analytical liability?: social networks and African informal economies. Global networks, 5 (3). pp. 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). pp. 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). pp. 39-54. ISSN 1469-9397

LSE Research Online is the primary resource for references to publications. For queries or updates please email the LSE Research Online team at lseresearchonline@lse.ac.uk|.

Expert Image

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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