Description
Book SynopsisThis 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.
Table of ContentsContents 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 ‘Sons of the soil’: 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 L’ECONOMIE 7 L’économie 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 ‘More punitive penalties should be given to urban farmers’: 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 d’un nouveau constitutionnalisme en Afrique : Internationalisation et régionalisation du droit constitutionnel 240 Babacar Kanté 13 Le juge constitutionnel et la construction de l’Etat 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 DÉFIS DE DROIT FACE AU CONFLITS 15 Effectuating normative change in customary legal systems: An end to ‘widow chasing’ 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
