Changing the rules: the politics of liberalization and the urban informal economy in Tanzania

Abstract

How are people in one of Africa's largest cities, Dar es Salaam, capable of surviving day to day when the downward decline of Tanzania's economy has become so pronounced that even high-ranking state employees are among the lowest paid? This book shows how the people of Dar es Salaam, through creativity and considerable ingenuity, supply for themselves the various goods and services that the government can no longer provide. With the growth of an informal economy, they have demonstrated resistance to state control, resulting in broad political, economic and social transformations within Tanzania. Moreover, the unprecedented participation of women in informal economic activities has had a profound effect on gender relations in the country. The book incorporates in-depth interviews and a field survey conducted at the household and microenterprise level in examining the influence and impact of the urban informal economy on Tanzanian society. This informal sector encompasses the enterprises of masons, cooks, cobblers and tailors; market vendors; and educators and doctors. It shows how the urban informal economy challenges state defined-bases of social justice with alternative notions of economic equity.