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Land, Law and Politics in Africa
Mediating Conflict and Reshaping the State
Series: - African Dynamics, Volume: 10
This volume presents a wide selection of studies on the issues of law, land dispute and conflict (mediation) in Africa, reconsidering the role of state agents and other actors in these matters. The focus is on analyzing how citizens, state institutions and concerned (inter)national actors aim to find solutions to disputes, tension and conflict that are part of social life. The authors have approached the subject of Land, Law and Politics in Africa from a variety of disciplinary angles. The issues at stake comprise land access and land use, state politics and democratization efforts, the relationship between constitutional/state law and customary law, the challenges of urban and rural conflicts, border issues and the conceptions of (human) rights. On the basis of new empirical studies, the authors plead for a more holistic perspective on the above issues and on developmental policy in general.
The book has 15 chapters in four thematic parts, focusing on historical and cultural aspects of politics and authority; land law and land disputes; constitutionalism and politics; and conflict studies. The volume is also a tribute to the work of Gerti Hesseling (1946-2009), a Dutch Africanist with a successful career as a scholar of constitutional and land law, focusing on West Africa.
The book has 15 chapters in four thematic parts, focusing on historical and cultural aspects of politics and authority; land law and land disputes; constitutionalism and politics; and conflict studies. The volume is also a tribute to the work of Gerti Hesseling (1946-2009), a Dutch Africanist with a successful career as a scholar of constitutional and land law, focusing on West Africa.
Jan Abbink works as a senior researcher at the African Studies Centre, Leiden, and as a research professor at VU University, Amsterdam. His interests are political anthropology, ethno-history, and culture and religion in the Horn of Africa (Ethiopia, Somalia). Current research projects are on Ethiopian regional history and livelihoods, the rhetoric and practice of âdevelopmentâ, and religion and community formation in Northeast Africa.
Mirjam de Bruijn is an anthropologist and senior researcher at the African Studies Centre, Leiden, Professor of African Studies (Contemporary History and Anthropology of West and Central Africa) at Leiden University and director of the Research Masters in African Studies at the ASC. Her research has developed around the theme of mobility and she has done extensive fieldwork in Chad, Mali and Cameroon on (interdisciplinary) projects on migration, conflict and poverty, and mobility and communication technology.
Mirjam de Bruijn is an anthropologist and senior researcher at the African Studies Centre, Leiden, Professor of African Studies (Contemporary History and Anthropology of West and Central Africa) at Leiden University and director of the Research Masters in African Studies at the ASC. Her research has developed around the theme of mobility and she has done extensive fieldwork in Chad, Mali and Cameroon on (interdisciplinary) projects on migration, conflict and poverty, and mobility and communication technology.
Contents
Figures, tables and boxes ix
1 Introduction: Land, law and conflict mediation in Africa 1
Jan Abbink
2 Partenariat et interdisciplinarité: La voie alternative de Gerti Hesseling et du LASDEL 14
Jean-Pierre Olivier de Sardan & Mahaman Tidjani Alou
HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL ASPECTS / ASPECTS HISTORIQUES ET CULTURELLES
3 Cultural models of power in Africa 25
Walter van Beek
4 Human rights in the traditional legal system of the Nkoya people of Zambia 49
Wim M.J. van Binsbergen
5 âSons of the soilâ: Autochthony and its ambiguities in Africa and Europe 80
Peter Geschiere
6 How can Africa develop? Reflections on theories, concepts and realities 99
Patrick Chabal
LAND ISSUES AND ECONOMICS / PROBLEMES FONCIERS ET LâECONOMIE
7 Lâéconomie sociale et solidaire pour stimuler le développement ascendant et endogène 117
Abdou Salam Fall
8 Land conflicts in Senegal revisited: Continuities and emerging dynamics 141
Mayke Kaag, Yaram Gaye & Marieke Kruis
9 âMore punitive penalties should be given to urban farmersâ: Laws and politics surrounding urban agriculture in Eldoret, Kenya 162
Romborah R. Simiyu & Dick Foeken
10 Settling border conflicts in Africa peacefully: Lessons learned from the Bakassi dispute between Cameroon and Nigeria 191
Piet Konings
POLITICS AND CONSTITUTIONAL LAW / POLITIQUE ET DROIT CONSTITUTIONNEL
11 Democracy deferred: Understanding elections and the role of donors in Ethiopia 213
Jan Abbink
12 La production dâun nouveau constitutionnalisme en Afrique : Internationalisation et régionalisation du droit constitutionnel 240
Babacar Kanté
13 Le juge constitutionnel et la construction de lâEtat de droit au Sénégal 258
Fatima Diallo
14 Sur les traces du droit vivant dans le labyrinthe du droit foncier et des pratiques locales au Mali 287
Moussa Djiré
THE CHALLENGES OF LAW AND CONFLICT / LES DÃFIS DE DROIT FACE AU CONFLITS
15 Effectuating normative change in customary legal systems: An end to âwidow chasingâ in northern Namibia? 315
Janine Ubink
16 Decentralization and the articulation of local and regional politics in Central Chad 334
Han van Dijk
17 Conflict mobility and the search for peace in Africa 353
Mirjam de Bruijn & Egosha E. Osaghae
Appendix: Bibliography of prof. dr Gerti Hesseling 367
List of authors 381
Figures, tables and boxes ix
1 Introduction: Land, law and conflict mediation in Africa 1
Jan Abbink
2 Partenariat et interdisciplinarité: La voie alternative de Gerti Hesseling et du LASDEL 14
Jean-Pierre Olivier de Sardan & Mahaman Tidjani Alou
HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL ASPECTS / ASPECTS HISTORIQUES ET CULTURELLES
3 Cultural models of power in Africa 25
Walter van Beek
4 Human rights in the traditional legal system of the Nkoya people of Zambia 49
Wim M.J. van Binsbergen
5 âSons of the soilâ: Autochthony and its ambiguities in Africa and Europe 80
Peter Geschiere
6 How can Africa develop? Reflections on theories, concepts and realities 99
Patrick Chabal
LAND ISSUES AND ECONOMICS / PROBLEMES FONCIERS ET LâECONOMIE
7 Lâéconomie sociale et solidaire pour stimuler le développement ascendant et endogène 117
Abdou Salam Fall
8 Land conflicts in Senegal revisited: Continuities and emerging dynamics 141
Mayke Kaag, Yaram Gaye & Marieke Kruis
9 âMore punitive penalties should be given to urban farmersâ: Laws and politics surrounding urban agriculture in Eldoret, Kenya 162
Romborah R. Simiyu & Dick Foeken
10 Settling border conflicts in Africa peacefully: Lessons learned from the Bakassi dispute between Cameroon and Nigeria 191
Piet Konings
POLITICS AND CONSTITUTIONAL LAW / POLITIQUE ET DROIT CONSTITUTIONNEL
11 Democracy deferred: Understanding elections and the role of donors in Ethiopia 213
Jan Abbink
12 La production dâun nouveau constitutionnalisme en Afrique : Internationalisation et régionalisation du droit constitutionnel 240
Babacar Kanté
13 Le juge constitutionnel et la construction de lâEtat de droit au Sénégal 258
Fatima Diallo
14 Sur les traces du droit vivant dans le labyrinthe du droit foncier et des pratiques locales au Mali 287
Moussa Djiré
THE CHALLENGES OF LAW AND CONFLICT / LES DÃFIS DE DROIT FACE AU CONFLITS
15 Effectuating normative change in customary legal systems: An end to âwidow chasingâ in northern Namibia? 315
Janine Ubink
16 Decentralization and the articulation of local and regional politics in Central Chad 334
Han van Dijk
17 Conflict mobility and the search for peace in Africa 353
Mirjam de Bruijn & Egosha E. Osaghae
Appendix: Bibliography of prof. dr Gerti Hesseling 367
List of authors 381