Property and Political Order in Africa: Land Rights and the Structure of Politics

433 Pages·2014·6.15 MB·English

by  Catherine Boone

PropertyandPoliticalOrderinAfrica
Insub-SaharanAfrica,propertyrelationshipsaroundlandandaccessto
naturalresourcesvaryacrosslocalities, districts, andfarmingregions.
Thesedifferencesproducepatternedvariationsinrelationshipsbetween
individuals,communities,andthestate.Thisbookcapturesthesepat-
terns in an analysis of structure and variation in rural land tenure
regimes. In most farming areas, state authority is deeply embedded in
landregimes,drawingfarmers,ethnicinsidersandoutsiders,lineages,
villages, and communities into direct and indirect relationships with
politicalauthoritiesatdifferentlevelsofthestateapparatus.Theanal-
ysisshowshowpropertyinstitutions–institutionsthatdefinepolitical
authorityandhierarchyaroundland–shapedynamicsofgreatinterest
to scholars of politics, including the dynamics of land-related compe-
titionandconflict,territorialconflict,patron-clientrelations,electoral
cleavageandmobilization,ethnicpolitics,ruralrebellion,andthelocal-
izationand“nationalization”ofpoliticalcompetition.
CatherineBooneisProfessorofGovernmentandInternationalDevel-
opmentattheLondonSchoolofEconomicsandPoliticalScience,where
she teaches courses on political economy and African politics. She is
former Professor of Government and Long Chair Fellow at the Uni-
versity of Texas at Austin. Boone has been a member of the board of
directorsoftheAfricanStudiesAssociation,theexecutivecouncilofthe
AmericanPoliticalScienceAssociation(APSA),andtheexecutivecom-
mitteeoftheComparativePoliticsSectionofAPSA.ShewasTreasurer
and then President of the West Africa Research Association (2005–
2008).SheisauthorofMerchantCapitalandtheRootsofStatePower
in Senegal, 1930–1985 (Cambridge, 1992) andPolitical Topogra-
phies of the African State: Rural Authority and Institutional Choice
(Cambridge,2003),whichwontheSocietyforComparativeResearch
MatteiDoganAwardin2005.

CambridgeStudiesinComparativePolitics
GeneralEditor
MargaretLevi UniversityofWashington,Seattle
AssistantGeneralEditors
KathleenThelen MassachusettsInstituteofTechnology
ErikWibbels DukeUniversity
AssociateEditors
RobertH.Bates HarvardUniversity
GaryCox StanfordUniversity
StephenHanson TheCollegeofWilliam&Mary
TorbenIversen HarvardUniversity
StathisKalyvas YaleUniversity
PeterLange DukeUniversity
HelenMilner PrincetonUniversity
FrancesRosenbluth YaleUniversity
SusanStokes YaleUniversity
SidneyTarrow CornellUniversity
BooksintheSeries
BenW.Ansell,FromtheBallottotheBlackboard:TheRedistributivePolitical
EconomyofEducation
LeonardoR.Arriola,Multi-EthnicCoalitionsinAfrica:BusinessFinancingof
OppositionElectionCampaigns
David Austen-Smith, Jeffry A. Frieden, Miriam A. Golden, Karl Ove Moene,
and Adam Przeworski, eds., Selected Works of Michael Wallerstein: The
PoliticalEconomyofInequality,Unions,andSocialDemocracy
AndyBaker,TheMarketandtheMassesinLatinAmerica:PolicyReformand
ConsumptioninLiberalizingEconomies
LisaBaldez,WhyWomenProtest:Women’sMovementsinChile
StefanoBartolini,ThePoliticalMobilizationoftheEuropeanLeft,1860–1980:
TheClassCleavage
RobertBates,WhenThingsFellApart:StateFailureinLate-CenturyAfrica
MarkBeissinger,NationalistMobilizationandtheCollapseoftheSovietState
NancyBermeo,ed.,UnemploymentintheNewEurope
CarlesBoix,DemocracyandRedistribution
Carles Boix, Political Parties, Growth, and Equality: Conservative and Social
DemocraticEconomicStrategiesintheWorldEconomy
Catherine Boone, Merchant Capital and the Roots of State Power in Senegal,
1930–1985
ContinuedaftertheIndex

Property and Political Order in Africa
Land Rights and the Structure of Politics
CATHERINE BOONE
LondonSchoolofEconomicsandPoliticalScience
32AvenueoftheAmericas,NewYork,ny10013-2473,usa
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ItfurtherstheUniversity’smissionbydisseminatingknowledgeinthepursuitofeducation,
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www.cambridge.org
Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107649934
©CatherineBoone2013
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andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements,
noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten
permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2013
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
AcatalogrecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData
Boone,Catherine.
PropertyandpoliticalorderinAfrica:landrightsandthestructureofpolitics/CatherineBoone.
p. cm.–(Cambridgestudiesincomparativepolitics)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
isbn978-1-107-04069-4(hardback)–isbn978-1-107-64993-4(pbk.)
1.Landtenure–Politicalaspects–Africa. 2.Landuse,Rural–Politicalaspects–Africa.
3.Landuse–Governmentpolicy–Africa.4.Central–localgovernmentrelations–Africa.
5.Ethnicity–Politicalaspects–Africa. 6.Ethnicconflict–Africa. I.Title. II.Series:
Cambridgestudiesincomparativepolitics.
hd963.b66 2013
323.46096–dc23 2013009770
isbn978-1-107-04069-4Hardback
isbn978-1-107-64993-4Paperback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyofurlsfor
externalorthird-partyInternetWebsitesreferredtointhispublicationanddoesnotguarantee
thatanycontentonsuchWebsitesis,orwillremain,accurateorappropriate.
To my family
Of course the land question in sub-Saharan Africa has dominated
thepoliticalarenaforovertwocenturies.Landandlandresources
were central to the imperial conquest, the colonial settlement and
the extractive economy, administered in terms of imported legal
frameworkswhichclaimedtoextinguishrightsheldunderlocalcus-
tomarylaw.Whetherthepurposewasagriculture,mining,adminis-
trativecontrolorsimplytrade,landandpropertyrightsbecamethe
subject of fierce competition and conflict and, in most cases, were
attherootofthefreedomstruggle....Foruptofourdecadesafter
independence, issues of land and property rights have remained at
the centre of contemporary politics in the region. Yet, with the
exception of a few states, we have been reluctant to confront the
landissue.
–PermanentSecretary,Kenya’sMinistryofLandsandHousing,
Eng.E.K.Mwongera1
1 KeynoteAddress:ACTSSeminaronLandTenureandConflictinAfrica,Nairobi2004,4–5.
Contents
ListofFigures,TablesandMaps pagexi
PrefaceandAcknowledgments xiii
1 Introduction:PropertyRegimesandLandConflict:Seeing
InstitutionsandTheirEffects 1
parti. propertyrightsandthestructureofpolitics 17
2 LandTenureRegimesandPoliticalOrderinRuralAfrica 19
3 RisingCompetitionforLand:RedistributionandItsVaried
PoliticalEffects 52
partii. ethnicity:propertyinstitutionsandethnic
cleavage 91
4 EthnicStrangersasSecond-ClassCitizens 100
EthnicHierarchyinWesternBurkinaFaso 101
ExpulsionofAliensfromGhana’sCocoaRegion 109
LandTensionsinWesternGhana 115
5 EthnicStrangersasProtectedClientsoftheState 127
SouthwesternCoˆted’Ivoire:StrangersImposed“ByForce!” 129
Kenya’sRiftValleySettlers 139
“ForcedCohabitation”inEasternDRC 157
partiii. politicalscale:propertyinstitutionsand
thescaleandscopeofconflict 177
6 LandConflictattheMicro-Scale:Family 188
ix