Micro formations of hybrid security governance in ethnic riots Mapping the interworkings of state forces, vigilantes, residents, thugs, and armed mobs in the violent slums of Jos, Nigeria

This chapter offers a micro-level analysis of hybrid security governance in a riot-prone African metropolis. Based on ethnographic fieldwork carried out between 2015 and 2017 in the central Nigerian city of Jos, it examines complex patterns of interaction between state and non-state actors in engendering (in)security during episodes of deadly violence. Of particular interest are the multifarious interworkings of local populations, security forces, thugs, gangs, vigilantes and other informal security networks as they circumnavigate the torturous landscapes of ethnic riots. Large-grained analyses often portray hybrid security governance as a linear set of activities that involve state and non-state actors working together constructively. In contrast, this empirical analysis of neighbourhood-level dynamics reveals intricate and dynamic processes involving a wide array of actors, coalescing and conflicting interests, cooperative and non-cooperative interactions, vehement resistance and collaboration, and shifting loyalties, coalitions, and enmities that change over time and across proximate spaces. The conclusion underscores the practical and academic significance of appreciating complex repertoires of hybrid security governance in violent neighbourhoods.