Water is not only a source of life and culture. It is also a source of power, conflicting interests and identity battles. Rights to materially access, culturally organize and politically control water resources are poorly understood by mainstream scientific approaches and hardly addressed by current normative frameworks. These issues become even more challenging when law and policy-makers and dominant power groups try to grasp, contain and handle them in multicultural societies. The struggles over the uses, meanings and appropriation of water are especially well-illustrated in Andean communities and local water systems of Peru, Chile, Ecuador, and Bolivia, as well as in Native American communities in south-western USA.

The problem is that throughout history, these nation-states have attempted to 'civilize' and bring into the mainstream the different cultures and peoples within their borders instead of understanding 'context' and harnessing the strengths and potentials of diversity. This book examines the multi-scale struggles for cultural justice and socio-economic re-distribution that arise as Latin American communities and user federations seek access to water resources and decision-making power regarding their control and management. It is set in the dynamic context of unequal, globalizing power relations, politics of scale and identity, environmental encroachment and the increasing presence of extractive industries that are creating additional pressures on local livelihoods.

While much of the focus of the book is on the Andean Region, a number of comparative chapters are also included. These address issues such as water rights and defence strategies in neighbouring countries and those of Native American people in the southern USA, as well as state reform and multi-culturalism across Latin and Native America and the use of international standards in struggles for indigenous water rights. This book shows that, against all odds, people are actively contesting neoliberal globalization and water power plays. In doing so, they construct new, hybrid water rights systems, livelihoods, cultures and hydro-political networks, and dynamically challenge the mainstream powers and politics.

Who has rights to forests and forest resources? In recent years governments in the South have transferred at least 200 million hectares of forests to communities living in and around them. This book assesses the experience of what appears to be a new international trend that has substantially increased the share of the world's forests under community administration. Based on research in over 30 communities in selected countries in Asia (India, Nepal, Philippines, Laos, Indonesia), Africa (Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana) and Latin America (Bolivia, Brazil, Guatemala, Nicaragua), it examines the process and outcomes of granting new rights, assessing a variety of governance issues in implementation, access to forest products and markets and outcomes for people and forests.

Forest tenure reforms have been highly varied, ranging from the titling of indigenous territories to the granting of small land areas for forest regeneration or the right to a share in timber revenues. While in many cases these rights have been significant, new statutory rights do not automatically result in rights in practice, and a variety of institutional weaknesses and policy distortions have limited the impacts of change. Through the comparison of selected cases, the chapters explore the nature of forest reform, the extent and meaning of rights transferred or recognized, and the role of authority and citizens' networks in forest governance. They also assess opportunities and obstacles associated with government regulations and markets for forest products and the effects across the cases on livelihoods, forest condition and equity.

Published with CIFOR.

* Authored by the world's leading practitioners, applicable to any resource from forests to agricultural land to water resources and fishing* Hundreds of case studies of successful co-management from a wide variety of contexts including the UK, Europe, Canada, the US, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the Indian Subcontinent, Latin America and AfricaThe collaborative or "co-management" of natural resources-whether between states and local communities or among and within communities themselves-is a process of collective understanding and actions by local communities and other social actors. The process brings about negotiated agreements on management roles, rights and responsibilities, making explicit the conditions and institutions of sound decentralized governance.This book is designed for professionals and people involved in collaborative management processes. It distills the wealth of experience and innovative approaches developed by people who have learned by doing. It begins by offering a variety of vistas, from broad historical and equity considerations to in-depth co-management examples. Illustrated in detail is the understanding accumulated in recent decades on starting points for co-management, prerequisites for successful negotiations as well as rules, methods and conditions for the negotiations. Methods and tools, such as practical checklists distilled from different situations and contexts, are offered throughout and examples of specifics agreements and pluralist management organizations are discussed.

Libertarianism attempts to establish a set of property rights as a complete political morality, its argument proceeding from liberty tout court, as the unique foundational aspect of well being that grounds rights. In this book, Attas presents a sympathetic reconstruction of the libertarian argument and then brings to bear a critical evaluation leading to an ultimate rejection of libertarianism. Exposing the limitations of libertarianism and disclosing its errors, Attas argues that the rights which libertarians adopt with respect to persons (self-ownership), natural resources (original acquisition) and products are indefensible given what liberty must be.

The purpose of this book is to explore the different ways in which the state deals with various social groups through the mechanisms of space. It does this by looking at three case studies, involving three social groups within Israel's multicultural society, in which the different roles played by political space in legal analysis are revealed and analysed. The book then proceeds to unearth the unifying logic underlying the disparate legal treatment of political space, brought to light by the three case studies - the Sephardim, the Bedouin-Arab minority, and the ultra-Orthodox community of Jerusalem. depending on the social group involved, an attitude which, the author argues, can be traced back to early Zionist thinking. He goes on to argue that a reform of local government law is required, to correct the segregated system of political space and the separate and unequal distribution of political power, and the economic resources that accompany it.

Security of land tenure for the urban poor is now a major problem for developing cities in Africa, Asia and Latin America. This book presents and analyzes the main conclusions of a comparative research programme on land tenure issues. It looks at how solutions can be found and implemented to respond to the demands and needs of the majority of squatters and informal settlements, and analyzes how urban stakeholders, with different social, legal and economic constraintes, find innovative and flexible solutions. The book is intended to fill a gap in the literature on comparative research on tenure policies and should be useful to reserachers and professionals involved in defining and instigating tenure upgrading policies and programmes.

Today, whichever party is in power, Aboriginal issues are very much part of the national agenda. No account of the nature of Australian politics, or discussion of the future of Australian society, can be complete without consideration of the Aboriginal interest. Citizens, whatever their political preferences, are learning that the Aboriginal demand for a full role in society has a profound impact on public life. In White Politics and Black Australians Scott Bennett coolly and dispassionately describes how the aspirations of Aboriginal Australians are expressed through a political system designed, first and foremost, for the white majority. Mabo, Wik, Native Title, Stolen Generation - these are just some of the issues discussed here. In a field so often characterised by rhetoric rather than analysis, here is an account which acknowledges the day-to-day reality of political contest.

This volume addresses a number of philosophical problems that arise in consideration of the century-old conflict between Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs. Consisting of essays by fifteen contributors (including both Israeli and Palestinian philosophers) and a lengthy introduction by the editor, it deals with rights to land, sovereignity, self-determination, the existence and legitimacy of states, cultural prejudice, national identity, intercommunal violence, and religious intransigence.

Reveals the impact of Tanzania's land law reforms and the ways in which women's rights to land ownership have been overridden in spite of law. Recent decades have seen a wave of land law reforms across Africa, in the context of a "land rush" and land-grabbing. But how has this been enacted on the ground and, in particular, how have women experienced this? This book seeksto re-orientate current debates on women's land rights towards a focus on the law in action. Drawing on the author's ethnographic research in the Arusha region of Tanzania, it explores how the country's land law reforms have impacted on women's legal claims to land. Centring on cases involving women litigants, the book considers the extent to which women are realising their interests in land through land courts and follows the progression of women's claims to land - from their social origins through processes of dispute resolution to judgment. Dancer's work explores three central issues. First, it considers the nature of women's claims to land in Tanzanian family contexts,the value of land in an era of land reform and the 'land rush' across Africa, and the extent to which the social issues raised are addressed by Tanzania's current laws and legal system. Secondly, it examines how agency and power relations between social and legal actors engaged in legal processes affect women's access to justice and the progression of claims. Thirdly, it explores Tanzanian concepts of justice and rights and how women's claims have been judged by land courts in practice. Helen Dancer is a lecturer in Law at the University of Brighton. She practised as a barrister in England specialising in family legal aid cases prior to training as a legal anthropologist. She is also a consultant for Future Agricultures at IDS, University of Sussex. Her areas of research interest include law and development, gender and land, and human rights and legal pluralism.

Finalist for the African Studies Association's 2021 Best Book Prize. Explores the limits of law in changing unequal land relations in Kenya. Why, despite the introduction of new land laws beginning in 2012, has there been an increase in land grabbing in Kenya? Why has legislation failed to address long standing grievances about grossly unequal land distribution? This important book suggests that questions of justice should be central to discussions of African land reform. Constitutional reformers in Kenya promised transformative changes in land relations. However, the reality has disappointed. Land law reforms since 2010 have been more concerned with the administration of land and with bureaucratic power than with the real consequences of unequal access to land for ordinary Kenyans. Manji documents this thwarted struggle and surveys the prospects for genuine change. Published in association with the British Institute in Eastern Africa. Ambreena Manji is Professor of Land Law and Development at the School of Law and Politics, Cardiff University. Between 2010 and 2014, she was Director of the British Institute in Eastern Africa. Her books include The Politics of Land Reform in Africa (2006). Vita Books: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan and South Africa.

First published in 1966. The main object of the present work is to trace the process whereby the land of this country came into agricultural use under full individual control. That movement, as will be seen, is treated as continuous and as due in the main to the operation of large economic and, so to say, normal causes. While the rapidity and extent of inclosure varies from time to time, and while its kind undergoes certain changes, progress continues.

First published in 1926, as the second edition of a 1925 original, this book was created in response to the agricultural crisis caused by the collapse of the traditional English land ownership system. Whilst the text is not hostile to rural landowners, and aims to serve 'no political ends', it puts forward a solution based on the state ownership of land. This is presented as a route to economic stability following the break-up of so many rural estates owing to financial difficulties. Notes are incorporated throughout. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in British agriculture and the history of land ownership.

In the context of sustainable development, recent land debates tend to construct two porous camps. On the one side, norms of land justice and their advocates dictate that people's rights to tenure security are tantamount and even sometimes key to successful conservation practice. On the other hand, biodiversity protection and conservation advocates, supported by global environmental organizations and states, remain committed to conservation strategies, steeped in genetics and biological sciences, working on behalf of a "global" mandate for biodiversity and climate change mitigation. Land Rights, Biodiversity Conservation and Justice seeks to illuminate struggles for land and territory in the context of biodiversity conservation. This edited volume explores the particular ideologies, narratives and practices that are mobilized when the agendas of biodiversity conservation practice meet, clash, and blend with the demands for land and access and control of resources from people living in, and in close proximity to, parks. The book maintains that, while biodiversity conservation is an important goal in a time where climate change is a real threat to human existence, the successful and just future of biodiversity conservation is contingent upon land tenure security for local people. The original research gathered together in this volume will be of considerable interest to researchers of development studies, political ecology, land rights, and conservation.

Why do some political leaders create and strengthen institutions like title registries and land tribunals that secure property rights to land while others neglect these institutions or destroy those that already exist? How do these institutions evolve once they have been established? This book answers these questions through spatial and temporal comparison of national and subnational cases from Botswana, Ghana, and Kenya and, to a lesser extent, Zimbabwe. Onoma argues that the level of property rights security that leaders prefer depends on how they use land. However, the extent to which leaders' institutional preferences are translated into actual institutions depends on the level of leaders' capacity. Further, once established, these institutions through their very working can contribute to their own decline over time. This book is unique in revealing the political and economic reasons why some leaders unlike others prefer an environment of insecure rights even as land prices increase.

Housing, land and property (HLP) rights, as rights, are widely recognized throughout international human rights and humanitarian law and provide a clear and consistent legal normative framework for developing better approaches to the HLP challenges faced by the UN and others seeking to build long-term peace. This book analyses the ubiquitous HLP challenges present in all conflict and post-conflict settings. It will bridge the worlds of the practitioner and the theorist by combining an overview of the international legal and policy frameworks on HLP rights with dozens of detailed case studies demonstrating country experiences from around the world. The book will be of particular interest to professors and students of international relations, law, human rights, and peace and conflict studies but will have a wider readership among practitioners working for international institutions such as the United Nations and the World Bank, non-governmental organizations, and national agencies in the developing world.

Land is important to all aspects of human life and has a key role in the economic well-being of society therefore, land tenure, land ownership, and real property law is a critical part of any developed nation. Together, the processes of how land parcels are held; how they are defined, measured, and described to allow economic transactions; how they are marked to allow their use and defense; and how they are legally protected have allowed for the orderly possession and use of land. In doing so, these processes have also provided the basis for the advanced economy of most developed nations. Very often, these processes-land tenure, boundary surveying, and cadastral systems-are considered separately. They are very much interrelated, and none of these processes may be completely understood without an understanding of the others. Land Tenure, Boundary Surveys, and Cadastral Systems provides an introduction to land tenure, cadastral systems, and boundary surveying, including an understanding of the interrelationship of these areas and their role in land tenure and real property law. This is especially true considering the advent of georeferenced cadastral maps reflecting the location of land parcels relative to many other components of the physical and legal infrastructure. Although intended as a basic text for college-level surveying courses, this book should also be of significant value to cadastral mappers, real property attorneys, land title professionals, and others involved with land transactions.

The year 2008 is the deadline set by President Mbeki for the finalization of all land claims by people who were dispossessed under the apartheid and previous white governments. Although most experts agree this is an impossible deadline, it does provide a significant political moment for reflection on the ANC government\u2019s program of land restitution since the end of apartheid. Land reform (and land restitution within that) remains a highly charged issue in South Africa, one that deserves more in-depth analysis. Drawing on her experience as Rural Land Claims Commissioner in KwaZulu-Natal from 1995 to 2000, Professor Cherryl Walker provides a multilayered account of land reform in South Africa, one that covers general critical commentary, detailed case material, and personal narrative. She explores the master narrative of loss and restoration, which has been fundamental in shaping the restitution program; offers a critical overview of the achievements of the program as a whole; and discusses what she calls the \u201cnon-programmatic limits to land reform,\u201d including urbanization, environmental constraints and the impact of HIV/AIDS.

Advances in Responsible Land Administration challenges conventional forms of land administration by introducing alternative approaches and provides the basis for a new land administration theory. A compilation of observations about responsible land administration in East Africa, it focuses on a new empirical foundation rather than preexisting ideals. Presenting practical knowledge resulting from real cases, it incorporates empirical studies highlighting Rwanda, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya. The book considers contemporary change forces that include responsible technological innovation, post-conflict contexts, rural poverty, rapid urbanization, food security, and citizen participation. It covers land information system design, innovative data capture tools and techniques, and algorithms and approaches to support land consolidation and pastoralist land administration. The book also evaluates the outcomes of approaches specifically geared toward workflow design, land use changes, land tenure perceptions, conflict reduction, and governance measures. Outlining key aspects of what fit for purpose land administration looks like, this book presents: A contemporary update for the land administration sector An overview of East African developments, a current focus region for innovative land administration design A collection of cutting-edge tools from practice and for practice-with enough support data and methodological underpinnings to be readily utilized for advocacy, design, and assessment Advances in Responsible Land Administration is an up-to-date discourse that promotes the theoretical notion of responsible land administration. The book highlights real cases, provides real data, and introduces novel alternatives to conventional methodologies in land administration. Using the information in this book, you can develop a coherent theoretical foundation for further research in this area.

Originally published in 1963 this volume surveys various aspects of the complex relations between rights in land, social organization and economic interests in tropical Africa. The papers - in English and French but with summaries in the other language - analyse case studies illustrating the various basic factors and problems connected with land in Tropical Africa. Indigenous systems of tenure and their adaptation to commercial agriculture, the balance between rights and obligations of groups and individuals, and the authority and duties of chiefs and headmen are discussed in detail for many different areas. Against this background important contributions are made towards the better understanding of problems raised by economic and political development, population increase, migration and scarcity of land.

This book was first published in 1992. For decades Yugoslavia had been developing its own model of socialism based on workers' self-management and the increasing use of the market mechanism. As a result, many scholars view the Yugoslav economy differently from other socialist systems. In this book, Dr Milica Uvalic demonstrates how some of the fundamental features of the Yugoslav economy have remained similar to those characterising other socialist economies. Dr Uvalic focuses on theoretical and empirical issues related to investment in Yugoslavia since 1965. She examines investment policies, sources of finance, macroeconomic performance, enterprise incentives, and current property reforms in relation to Western theory on investment behaviour in the labour-managed firm and Kornai's theory on socialist economies. In line with Kornai's theory, the author argues that investment reforms have not led to substantially changed enterprise behaviour, which illustrates the limited results to be expected from partial reforms in a socialist economy. The fundamental problems in Yugoslavia are thus generic to socialist economic systems, rather that the specific characteristic of self-management.

The story of the British political system's reaction to the Irish unrest is told, and an important episode in Mr Gladstone's career fully revealed. The agrarian reform of 1870 was not only the beginning of the undoing of the conquest', it was also a point of departure for British legislation generally. A great deal of evidence is marshalled in the book to support its argument that the Act undermined the conception of property-rights which was central to the self-confidence of the rulers of mid-Victorian Britain. Dr Steele draws on the relatively neglected mass of evidence about the Irish peasantry, their customs and aspirations, collected and printed by British Parliamentary and official investigations during the nineteenth century. He has been able to exploit a wealth of material in the private pipers of Mr Gladstone, his cabinet colleagues and other leading political figures. Selective use has been made of the British and Irish press, to illustrate and emphasize all that was at stake.

This book explores the political process by which property rights are defined and enforced in two traditional states in colonial Ghana. The case studies within the book ask how colonial institutions transformed indigenous political and economic life; and how colonization and decolonization affected prospects for future economic development and stability in Africa. The introductory chapter outlines a theory of the transformation of property rights systems. The remaining empirical chapters refine this theory through a detailed analysis of the transformation of property rights within an African context. These chapters draw explicitly on rational choice theories to analyse indigenous actors' attempts to redefine and enforce property rights to land by 'reinventing' the traditions of their respective communities. These theories help to understand why property rights systems across Africa remain fluid and insecure.