One of the consequences of the failure of the state to protect life and property of its entire citizens especially in developing countries like Nigeria is the emergences of private alternatives to crime prevention and control. This process of privatisation of security in Nigeria often involves recruitment of corporate and local security guards, vigilantes, night watchmen and the control of access into the neighbourhoods through gates and barriers. The book examines the nature, types, procedures, and administration of these private alternative to security in Ibadan metropolis. It identifies renaissance of primary affiliation among diverse urban residents and the interplay of forces of exclusion and inclusion among residents of gates neighbourhoods in Ibadan metropolis. It also evaluates the spatial pattern, trends and dynamics of gating and the general concern for security in Ibadan metropolis.

Gated Communities provides a historic, socio-political and contemporary cultural perspective of gated communities. In doing so it offers a different lens through which to view the historical vernacular background of this now global phenomenon. The book presents a collection of new writing on the issue by an international and interdisciplinary group of contributors. The authors review current thinking on gated communities and consider the sustainability issues that these contemporary 'lifestyle' communities raise. The authors argue that there are links that can be drawn between the historic gated homesteads and cities, found in much of the world, and today's Western-style secure complexes. Global examples of gated communities, and their historical context, are presented throughout the book. The authors also comment on how sustainability issues have impacted on these communities. The book concludes by considering how the historic measures up with the contemporary in terms of sustainability function, and aesthetic.

Includes Proceedings of the Executive council and List of members, also section "Review of books".

This collection focuses on the rise of vigilantism and the privatization of armed security in Nigeria from a number of fresh perspectives that move beyond the 'collapsed state' thesis to grasp the more productive and dynamic dimensions of sociality and security both today and during the colonial period. Vigilantism has become an endemic feature of the Nigerian social and political landscape, especially so since the return to democratic rule in 1999. Vigilantes have assumed a status synonymous with the fractured and violence-ridden image of Africa's most populous nation. Beyond fighting crime, vigilante groups such as the O'odua People's Congress, the Bakassi Boys and the shari'a implementation committees represent divergent aspirations for Nigeria's future, and spearhead contemporary political contests over the country's most intractable issues - the politics of democracy, ethnicity and religion. Set against global trends in the privatization of policing, and emergent forms of armed insurgency across the African continent, this collection draws on anthropological and historical perspectives to situate vigilantism within historical trajectories, and within localized idioms of power, knowledge and accountability.