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This chapter addresses the relationship between economic policies and political ideologies. Drawing on contemporary and historical material from the province of Brindisi, in Southeast Italy, it links the local dimension to processes at regional, national, and international levels. The diachronic analysis brings out the impact of two apparently contrasting dynamics of structural adjustment. On the one hand, it shows how vested political interests have influenced both the post-unification national policies for the development of the South and the post-World War II agreements on the alleged national control of the economy. On the other hand, it addresses the effects of the modified Bretton Woods Accords, which, instead of facilitating investment in this region, have resulted in environmental degradation, competition among cities, and further economic downturn.

Chapter 1, the book’s introductory chapter, outlines the state-of-the-art of urban ethnography, highlights the productive relationship between social anthropology and qualitative sociology, warns against abstract superimpositions and pointless classifications of cities and summarizes the bumpy story of ‘urban anthropology’; that is, the story of a major disciplinary contribution to the ethnographic study of today’s cities. Having pointed out the methodological and theoretical strength and value of ethnographically based analysis, the second part of the chapter discusses the structure of the volume through the insights offered by the 32 contributors. The final part argues that ethnography matters—particularly in terms of the unique contribution it has to offer to our understanding of our increasingly complex urban world.

Prato looks at how the problematic of incommensurability has affected the debate in urban anthropology. She advocates a rethinking of the city in terms of ‘urban community’ in the Weberian sense; that is, as an ideal-type that embraces the meanings of urbs, polis and civitas. This is a community that promotes political and civic participation and provides an environment functional to good government. She argues that, taken together, these three analytical categories would bring out the complexity of contemporary cities. Although such an ideal-type may be possible only in free democratic society, she adds, its comparative potential may well provide the basis for a theoretically relevant ethnographic analysis that makes commensurable the apparently incommensurable. She addresses the significance of political programmes and grassroots action to urban socio-economic life, looking at two urban realities that were affected by the changes occurring in Europe between the late 1980s and early 1990s; they are, respectively, Brindisi in Italy and the Durres–Tirana metropolitan region in Albania. These ethnographies bring out the democratic role that local administrations can play in facilitating the participation of citizens in decision-making. They also highlight how ethnographic research can contribute significantly to our understanding of how abstract models are negotiated at the local level.

This chapter focuses on the transformation of the urban landscape in the Tirana–Durres region to offer a historically contextualized analysis of the impact of post-communist policies and European programmes on the development of this area. It addresses three major factors. First, ordinary people’s access to the city’s public space and to previously restricted residential areas. Second, the impact of internal and external demographic movement and informal urbanization. Third, the role of the international community for the accomplishment of EU programmes, such as the construction of Corridor VIII and sustainable cities planning. The author suggests that the resulting outcome may well serve the interests of international political agendas but has problematic ramifications in terms of democratic citizenship rights and good governance.

Contents: Introduction: disconnected governance and the crisis of legitimacy, Italo Pardo and Giuliana B. Prato Italian rubbish: elemental issues of citizenship and governance, Italo Pardo Urban mixes and urban divisions in contemporary Israeli cities, Alex Weingrod Displacement of citizenship: the multicultural reality of Slovene Istria, Mateja Sedmak Stereotypes and other lies. The media and the construction of racial hatred, Margarida Fernandes and Teresa Morte Baltimore, or Boston, in Barcelona: engaging Mediterranean port cities and the new urban waterfront, Fernando Monge The 'citizen' and the 'transformation' period in Albania: the case of Tirana's periphery, Nebi Bardhoshi The 'costs' of European citizenship: governance and relations of trust in Albania, Giuliana B. Prato Between structure and action: contested legitimacies and labour processes in the Piraeus, Manos Spyridakis The collapse of the Turkish party system and its effects on citizenship and the legitimacy of governance, Kayhan Delibas Erosion of legitimacy: a Lebanese case of collapsed governance, Marcello Mollica Index.

When I began outlining the content of this chapter, two descriptions of human migration flashed through my mind. One is ethnographic, the other poetic. Let me start with the ethnography. While doing research in Brindisi, in southeast Italy, in the late 1980s on how political ideologies had influenced economic policies in the area, a successful local entrepreneur told me that he had rejected the suggestion to move his business to the North of Italy. Experience, he said, had taught him that, because of his southern origins, he would be treated as an immigrant, a “rich” immigrant perhaps, but a “migrant” nonetheless (Prato 1993). Personal feelings apart, he said that due to the negative stereotypes associated with southerners, the relationship with his northern business partners would inevitably change once he moved to the North.2 This entrepreneur’s observations brought to mind the poem dedicated to the transhumant shepherds of Abruzzo, in central Italy, quoted at the beginning of this chapter, which stimulated comparative reflections.

This chapter draws on anthropological analysis to address integrity in the political context. As an anthropologist, I feel that I must provide a conceptual definition of ‘integrity’ before engaging with my ethnography. Integrity implies adherence to moral and ethical principles on the basis of which people evaluate the ‘soundness’ (or consistency) of a person’s moral character and, ultimately, their honesty, accountability, and responsibility. Therefore, integrity is a value system that carries expectations of other people’s actions. While the perception of a person’s integrity is a significant element in all social relations, it becomes particularly relevant for people who have decision-making power. In the discussion that follows I shall address aspects of integrity that are fundamental at various levels of government (local, national, and international); specifically, I shall address politicians’ accountability and their ethics of responsibility.

This collection brings together a strong ethnographic and theoretical field. The volume includes chapters that address issues of identity formation and change in relation to ‘educational’ political projects and politically coloured notions of citizenship. Drawing on their different ethnographies and on comparative analysis, the contributors address the problematic of the relationship between rulers and the ruled and between elite and non-elite groups, critically raising issues of legitimacy and responsibility in the management of power and political decision-making. The empirically based analyses offered here graphically demonstrate that urban issues are at the forefront of political and social debates. More specifically, the contributors address, from different perspectives, the more or less successful attempts of the state to legitimise its approach and authority through urban policies. A collective reading of the chapters provides a powerful analytical framework for the study of the processes that unde...

Established academic disciplinary distinctions led early anthropologists to study tribal societies, or village communities, while ignoring the city as a field of research. Thus, urban research became established in some academic disciplines, particularly sociology, but struggled to achieve such a status in anthropology. Over the years, historical events and geo-political changes have stimulated anthropologists to address processes of urbanization in developing countries; yet, urban research in western industrial societies continued to be left out of the mainstream disciplinary agenda. In this chapter we examine major debates in the development of this sub-discipline and discuss the complex methodological and theoretical challenges posed by field-research in urban settings, clearly identifying the significance of the anthropological paradigm in urban research and its centrality both to mainstream academic debates and to the broader society. Today an increasing number of anthropologists carry out research in cities. With half of humanity already living in towns and cities, growing to two-thirds in the next 50 years, there is no denying that research in urban settings is topical and needed as western and non-western society is fast becoming urban or mega-urban. Having outlined the background to current trends in this field of research, the discussion builds towards an assessment of the contribution that empirically-based anthropological analysis can make to our understanding of our increasingly urban world.

This essay draws on comparative ethnographic material from Albania and Italy. It addresses different forms of corruption, arguing that in order to understand the way in which phenomena such as corruption occur and are experienced in any given society, we should contextualize them in the historical and cultural traditions of that specific society. In doing so, however, we should be alert in avoiding falling into the trap of either moral relativism or cultural determinism. The essay suggests that an anthropological analysis of corruption should distinguish between legal rules and social norms. In particular, the empirical study of such norms helps to understand the meanings—both individual and inter-subjective—that actors give to the social and political situation in which they operate.