ABSTRACT

This book is a critical examination of the place and role of land in Africa, the role of land in political formation and national identification, and the land as an economic resource within both national economic development and liberal globalization. Colonial and post-colonial conflicts have been rooted in four related claims: the struggle over scarce resources, especially access to land resources; abundance of natural resources mismanaged or appropriated by both the states, local power systems and multinationals; weak or absent articulated land tenure policies, leading to speculation or hybrid policy framework; and the imperatives of the global liberalization based on the free market principles to regulate the land question and mineral appropriation issue. The actualization of these combined claims have led to conflicts among ethnic groups or between them and governments. This book is not only about conflicts, but also about local policy achievements that have been produced on the land question. It provides a critical understanding of the forces and claims related to land tenure systems, as part of the state policy and its system of governance.

chapter |10 pages

General Introduction

Issues, Objectives and About the Cases

chapter |22 pages

Land Reforms in South Africa

A Review of Progress and Challenges

chapter |20 pages

Space Partners or Mortal Enemies

Contentious Lands, Farmer–Grazier Conflicts and Women's Militancy in Cameroon

chapter |21 pages

Land Tenure, Evolving Capitalism and Social Formations in Côte d'Ivoire

Colonial Economy, the State and National Policies in the Global and Contemporary Context 1

chapter |14 pages

The Land Question in South Africa

History of Dispossession, Political Discourse, and Post-Apartheid Government Policy

chapter |15 pages

Land Reforms in Ghana

The Illusion and the Reality

chapter |32 pages

Land Reforms in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

A Study of the Political Economy of Underdevelopment and Nation-State Building