The author compares the hierarchical variety of businesses that struggle over downtown urban space with the official agencies that regulate that space in two sister cities on the U.S.-Mexico border. For each city, the conflict is analyzed, as is the diversity of businesses and their public presentations. The analysis reveals how political machinery and public discourse affect the outcomes of conflicts. After engagement in the political process, El Paso vendors face drastic increases in business costs, and Juirez vendors perpetuate a short-term standoff with the conservative opposition government.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Alvarez, R.1984. The border as a social system: The California case. New Scholar9:119-133.
2.
Annis, S. , and J. Franks. 1989. Is the idea of the informal sector beginning to change how both the Left and the Right think about economic policy?Grassroots Development13 (1): 9-22.
3.
Bahl, R. W. , and J. F. Linn. 1992. Urban public finance in developing countries. New York: Oxford.
4.
Beals, R. L.1975. The peasant marketing system of Oaxaca, Mexico. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.
5.
Berger, M. , and M. Buvinic. 1989. Women's ventures: Assistance to the informal sector in Latin America. West Hartford, CT: Kumarian.
6.
Castells, M.1983. The city and the grassroots: A cross-cultural theory of urban social movements. Berkeley: Univ. of California.
7.
City of El Paso, Department of Economic Development . 1993. El Paso region demo-pack. Author. Duplicated.
8.
City of El Paso, Department of Planning, Research, and Development (DPRD) . 1992. El Paso region demo-pack. El Paso, TX: Author.
9.
Clarke, S. E.1991. The changing terrain of local politics. Urban Affairs Quarterly26 (3): 457-465.
10.
Clavel, P.1986. The progressive city: Planning and participation. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers Univ. Press.
11.
Connolly, P.1985. The politics of the informal sector: A critique. In Beyond employment: Household, gender and subsistence, edited by N. Redcliff and E. Mingione. London: Basil Blackwell.
12.
de Soto, H.1989. The other path. New York: Harper & Row.
13.
Dear, M. J. , and A. J. Scott. 1981. Urbanization & urban planning in capitalist societies. London: Routledge, Chapmen & Hall.
14.
Edelman, M.1988. Constructing the political spectacle. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.
15.
Eisinger, P. K.1988. The rise of the entrepreneurial state: State and local economic development policy in the United States. Madison: Univ. of Wisconsin Press.
16.
Feige, E. L.1989. The underground economies: Tax evasion and information distortion. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
17.
Griffin, E. , and L. Ford. 1980. A model of Latin American city structure. Geographic Review70 (4): 397-422.
18.
Herzog, L. A.1990. Where north meets south: Cities, space, and politics on the U.S.-Mexico border. Austin: Univ. of Texas Press.
19.
Holston, J.1989. The modernist city: An anthropological critique of Brasilia. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.
20.
Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografiae Informática . 1992. Chihuahua: Resultados definitivos datos por AGEB urbana, XI censo general de población y vivienda, 1990. Aguacalientes, Ags: Author.
21.
Inter-American Development Bank . 1990. Economic and social progress in Latin America. Washington, DC: Author.
22.
Jones, Y. V.1988. Street peddlers as entrepreneurs: Economic adaptation to an urban area. Urban Anthropology17 (2-3): 143-170.
23.
Lau Rojo, R. 1992. Politica, economia informal y tenencia de la tierra (El Caso de Ciudad Juárez). Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez. Typescript.
24.
Levine, M. V.1992. The changing face of urban capitalism. Urban Affairs Quarterly28 (1): 171-180.
25.
Light, I.1984. Immigrant and ethnic enterprise in North America. Ethnic and Racial Studies7 (2): 195-216.
26.
Logan, J. , and H. L. Molotch. 1987. Urban fortunes: The political economy of place. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.
27.
Mann, C. K. , M. Grindle, and P. Shipton, eds. 1989. Seeking solutions: Framework and cases for small enterprise development programs. Hartford, CT: Kumarian.
28.
Martinez, O.1994. Border people: Life and society in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. Tucson: Univ. of Arizona Press.
29.
Morse, R. M.1992. Cities as people. In Rethinking the Latin American city, edited by R. Morse and J. Hardoy. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press.
30.
Ordofiez Barba, G. M. 1990. Participación political y administración municipal: El caso de Ciudad Juárez (1980-89). Master's thesis, El colegio de la frontera norte, Tijuana, Mexico.
31.
Pammer, W. J., Jr.1992. The future of municipal finances in an era of fiscal austerity and economic globalization. In Municipal year book 1992, edited by International City Management Association, 3-11. Washington, DC: International City Management Association.
32.
Plotkin, S.1987. Keep out: The struggle for land use control. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.
33.
Portes, A. , M. Castells, and L. A. Benton, eds. 1989. The informal economy: Studies in advanced and less developed countries. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press.
34.
Roberts, B.1993. Enterprise and labor markets: The border and the metropolitan areas. Frontera Norte5 (2): 33-66.
35.
Rodríguez, V. 1981. Urban planning policy in Mexico: The case of Ciudad Juárez. Master's thesis, University of Texas at El Paso.
36.
Rodríguez, V. E. , and P. M. Ward. 1992. Policymaking, politics, and urban governance in Chihuahua. Policy Report no. 3. Austin: Univ. of Texas, Mexican Policy Studies Program.
37.
Scott, J. C.1990. Domination and the arts of resistance: Hidden transcripts. New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press.
38.
Secretaría de Programación y Presupuesto. 1977. La ocupacion informal en areas urbanas 1976. Mexico City: Author.
39.
Secretaría del Trabajo y Previsión Social de México and U.S. Department of Labor (USDL) . 1992. The informal sector in Mexico. Occasional Paper no. 1. Mexico City and Washington, DC: Author.
40.
Soja, E. W.1989. Postmodern geographies: The reassertion of space in critical social theory. London and New York: Verso.
41.
Spalter-Roth, R.1988. The sexual political economy of street vending in Washington, D.C. In Traders versus the state: Anthropological approaches to unofficial economies, edited by G. Clark, 165-187. Boulder, CO: Westview.
42.
Thelen, K. , and S. Steinmo. 1992. Historical institutionalism in comparative politics. In Structuring politics: Historical institutionalism in comparative perspective, edited by S. Steinmo, K. Thelen, and F. Longsreth, 1-31. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
43.
Trejo Gaytán, L. 1992. Operan en Juárez 30 mil negocios en la economia subterranea. Diario de Juárez, 27 Agosto.
44.
United Nations Development Programme . 1993. Human development report. New York: Author.
45.
U.S. Department of Labor (USDL) . 1992. The underground economy in the United States. Washington, DC: Author.
46.
Velez-Ibañez, C.1983. Rituals of marginality: Politics, process, and culture change in central urban Mexico, 1969-74. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.
47.
Whyte, W. H.1988. City: Rediscovering the center. New York: Doubleday.
48.
World Bank . 1991. Juárez: Urban issues survey. Urban Development Division Working Paper no. 16. Washington, DC: Author.
49.
Zukin, S.1991. Landscapes of power: From Detroit to Disney World. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.
