Laurence Piper is a Political Scientist at the University of the Western Cape interested in urban governance, democracy, state-society relations and citizenship in South Africa and comparatively. His latest book is ‘Democracy Disconnected: Participation and Governance in a City of the South’ , Routledge, 2018, with Dr Fiona Anciano. He is the previous President of the South African Association of Political Studies (SAAPS) 2016-8.