Opened by an excellent editorial introduction, this collection gathers together ten case studies that explore current features of African informal economy, its dynamics and, most importantly, its political dimension. The book is divided into three parts, which mirror its major concerns. The first aims at presenting and analysing the complex political landscape within which organisations in the informal economy are today embedded. The contributions to this first part of the book, by Brown & Lyons, Meagher, and Prag, not only powerfully illustrate the great heterogeneity of informal economic activities in different parts of Africa, but also unveil the corresponding diversity of associations representing ‘informals’ in different economic and social domains. With diverse origins and histories, these associations struggle to gain political voice in national and international contexts dominated by increasing liberalisation and informalisation.

The second part assesses the potential for forming alliances and organising across the formal–informal ‘divide’. Collectively, the essays forming this part, by Andrae & Beckman, Jimu, Lier, and Boampong, highlight the common struggles but also, interestingly, the tensions that have emerged between the focus of trade union politics and the aims and needs of informal economy organisations. While all the authors agree on the need to assess the viability of different kinds of alliance to fight the increasing vulnerability of workers in an informalising world, the cases presented in the volume differ considerably in their assessment of these ‘new’ organising experiences, effectively highlighting once more the distinctive features of each local and national case.

Finally, the third part of the book, with contributions by Scheld, Nchito & Hansen, and Mitullah, explores the growing breadth of collective organisation in the informal economy, and specifically focuses on the internationalisation of some organising experiences. In its own way each of these essays shows how informal livelihoods are deeply embedded in processes that trespass and transgress national boundaries, and which provide new opportunities for effective international and global activism.

Africa's Informal Workers contributes to the existing literature in two ways. First, detailed accounts on the functioning of the informal economy often tend to privilege Asia or Latin America as areas of enquiry. In this respect, this book and its rich empirical accounts fill a very important gap. Second, many accounts of processes of informalisation leave the political implications of these trends largely unexamined. In her introduction, Lindell rightly states: ‘Praised or victimised, informal workers are seldom seen as political actors’ (p. 1). Against this norm, the collection places the political dimension of the informal economy centre stage. Even more important, it raises a number of crucial questions about issues of agency and subjectivity, and about the relationship between informality and state structures, challenging simplistic claims about the marginalisation of informals from centres of power and realms of political action. These questions openly and actively deconstruct some of the ‘myths’ characterising the literature on the informal economy. They cannot but remain largely unanswered in this volume, but powerfully set the basis for a rich research and political agenda for the future.