Neoliberal Urbanity and the Right to the City: A View from Beirut's Periphery

Drawing on Lefebvre's theorization of space in order to examine the compatibility of neoliberalism and the right to the city, this study investigates how the formation of informal settlements since the 1950s had provided low‐income dwellers in Beirut (Lebanon) a means to conceive of and engage in city making (neighbourhood production, management, and organization) at a time when state regulations and/or market constraints would have excluded them from the city. It also examines how the prevailing neoliberal ideology of the 1990s, as translated through Lebanon's sectarian‐clientelist regime, is curtailing these possibilities. Evidence for the article was drawn from interviews with dwellers, developers and public officials, as well as from archival searches and aerial photographs.     

Juvenile Delinquency in Kuwait: Applying Social Disorganization Theory

Juvenile delinquency is considered one of the most serious and challenging problems worldwide. Criminology provides a wide array of explanations for delinquency; however, the vast majority of the theories were applied and tested in Western societies. Therefore, the possibility of applying these theories to non‐Western societies is yet to be determined. This article will examine juvenile delinquency in Kuwait and will attempt to determine the relative effects of social disorganization on delinquency. The study will also test the effects of competing theories such as social control, strain, and differential association. Some researchers believe that urbanization, modernization, and social change lead to such problems. They believe that crime and delinquency can be viewed as an outcome of rapid social changes in societies, which in turn, lead to social disorganization. Faris (1948 ) believed that the decline of unity and harmony in a society is a major condition of social disorganization. Furthermore, Mowrer (1942 ) indicated that disorganization of society can produce many social problems such as divorce, delinquency, crimes, poverty, and unemployment. More recently, researchers viewed the concept of social disorganization as the inability of a local community to identify the common values of its residents and solve their problems ( Bursik, 1988 ; Bursik & Webb, 1982 ). This article explores the assumptions of this theory and other theories as they relate to the Kuwaiti society.