Hybrid Governance Arrangements

In this article we address a recent tendency in development policies to engage actors beyond the nation-state, such as corporations, NGOs and other less formalized and local authorities. Many scholars have started questioning, at both the empirical and analytical level, the distinction between state and non-state actors, especially in the context of the governance of natural resources and security. Here, drawing from our case studies in Kingston (Jamaica) and Nairobi (Kenya), where security is provided, respectively, by gangs and by a residents’ policing organization, we attempt to understand the mutual entanglement of these actors through the concept of hybrid governance arrangements. We suggest that the added value of the hybridity approach lies exactly in the blurring of lines between the different actors involved.