This article explores the politics produced by civilian community policing groups in the urban margins of Mozambique and Swaziland. By taking over those streets that no one else could control, young unemployed men established themselves as alternative police forces and vectors of power in the neighborhoods. This made them politically significant to local leaders, politicians, and state police officers who both saw them as competitors and enrolled them in their own political agendas. By expanding upon the concept of “street politics,” I argue that the community policing groups developed into what I conceptualize as “street authorities.” Street authority involves a style of politics that relies on the capacity for swift, direct actions, often through violent means, to order the streets, but it is also characterized by momentariness that prevents the formation of stable organizations. Such politics emerge in urban contexts where poor urban citizens mistrust the state and where there is a preference for immediate outcomes because livelihood uncertainties are high, security is low, and it is difficult to express grievances through official political channels.

中文翻译：

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街头当局：莫桑比克和斯威士兰的社区警务

本文探讨了莫桑比克和斯威士兰城市边缘的平民社区警务团体产生的政治。通过占领其他人无法控制的街道，年轻的失业者成为了附近地区的替代警察和权力载体。这使他们对地方领导人，政治人物和州警察具有政治意义，他们俩都将他们视为竞争对手并将他们纳入自己的政治议程。通过扩展“街头政治”的概念，我认为社区警务团体发展成为我概念化为“街头权威”的组织。街头权威涉及一种政治风格，这种政治风格通常依靠暴力手段迅速采取直接行动来命令街头，但是它的特点是瞬间性会阻止稳定组织的形成。这种政治出现在城市环境中，在这些环境中，城市贫困人口不信任国家，并且由于生计不确定性高，安全性低并且很难通过官方政治渠道表达不满，因此人们倾向于立即取得结果。