Click the star to add/remove an item to/from your individual schedule.
You need to be logged in to avail of this functionality,
and to see the links to virtual rooms.
Log in
- Convenors:
-
Yuezhou Yang
(London School of Economics)
Carolin Dieterle (LSE)
Send message to Convenors
- Formats:
- Papers Synchronous
- Stream:
- Leadership and the environment
- Sessions:
- Thursday 18 June, -
Time zone: Europe/London
Short Abstract:
This interdisciplinary panel examines the agency involved in the processes of African land institutions formation and electoral mobilization. Who are the actors involved in land governance and are there emerging forms of leadership? How do these actors interact and what are developmental outcomes?
Long Abstract:
This panel invites papers that focus on the role of various actors in the land governance arena, ranging from the central state, local and traditional authorities, brokers, grassroots and peasant groups, NGOs, and private sector. How do these actors interact with different, sometimes competing interests, in defining, managing, and brokering of land use and land rights? What are the developmental outcomes? The central state in sub-Saharan Africa is often criticized for its failures, corruption, and 'weak governance', especially with regards to the state's ability to govern land and territory. Countering these notions, numerous studies have articulated the vital role played by the central state as well as a multitude of national and local-level actors in shaping and implementing land policies and developmental strategies. At the same time, African government's strategies are shaped by national and international political-economic contexts, and increasingly, by pressures from external actors. New forms of leadership are emerging in the context of foreign large-scale investments, which include a revitalized role of peasant movements, grassroots organizations and NGOs at the local level as well as donor-driven proliferation of 'best practice standards' and international 'soft laws' for responsible investment. With all these actors on the scene, claiming authority over the land governance, how do these actors interact, compete, or cooperate? What are the development outcomes? Which new actors and forms of leadership around land are emerging? This panel invites papers that address these crucial issues from multiple angles. Contributions at a generalized conceptual level, empirical findings, methodological experiments, and implications for policy are all welcome.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Thursday 18 June, 2020, -Carolin Dieterle (LSE)
Paper short abstract:
Can international codes of conduct work in practice to make investment projects more responsible? Comparing 3 cases of land investments in Uganda, this paper shows that variations in land tenure regimes determine the effectiveness of international guidelines around investment projects.
Paper long abstract:
The rise of large-scale land investments in the developing world has received global attention throughout the last decade, not least because of much reported local land conflict and dispossession of smallholder farmers. Efforts by the international development community to mitigate such negative effects have so far concentrated on the creation and proliferation of (voluntary) codes of conduct that host governments and investment companies should use to discipline and guide these land deals. The question remains if and how such guidelines are actually invoked or used in practice, by whom, and whether their use can shape the trajectory of investment projects towards "win-win" outcomes, as promoted. Uncovering how international codes of conduct work in practice first necessitates a closer understanding of the underlying land tenure regimes and local land politics in which investment projects are embedded. In Uganda, this varies from region to region and investments take place on different forms of land tenure such as neo-customary, private ("Mailo"), and state-owned land. These regimes can shape and determine the trajectory of investments, the involvement of local actors and the occurrence of conflict in distinct ways. This paper is based on 8 months of fieldwork in Uganda in 2018 and 2020. Comparing three cases of large-scale land investments on customary, private and state-owned land, I will argue that variation in the underlying land tenure regimes go far in explaining uneven use, applicability and effectiveness of international codes of conduct in producing agreements with local land-users and avoiding conflict.
Olatokunbo Hammed Osinowo (Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye, Ogun State, Nigeria) Esther Tolorunju (Federal University of Agriculture Abeokuta) Iyabosola Osinowo (Ogun State Ministry of Agriculture, Ogun State, Nigeria.)
Paper short abstract:
This paper examines the actors involved in the processes of State agricultural land allocation. Study indicates some degree of ambiguity in the process and recommends transparency leadership in land governance and fair compensation to the affected families whose land has been acquired.
Paper long abstract:
From time of immemorial through the period of agriculture to the period of industrial development, land has remained the most valuable property in the life of man and its development. The Land Use Act of 1978 in Nigeria nationalized land, placing ownership in the hands of the state governors "in trust" for the benefit of all the Nigerian people but the objectives appear not to have been met after 41 years of its enactment. This study examined the actors involved in the processes of State agricultural land allocation and effectiveness of the process. The study makes use of primary data sourced from 480 government agricultural land beneficiaries (agricultural land allottees) across the 6 States in South West Nigeria. In addition, the view of community leaders and farm households were sought through interview concerning their roles in government acquired agricultural land, the challenges they often encounter and how such were resolved. The finding of this study showed that different actors were involved in the process of securing State agricultural land. Some of the identified challenges confronting agricultural land allottees in South West Nigeria include: hostility from host community, government official bureaucracy and high cost of securing and perfecting land title. The study confirmed that government agricultural land acquisition has dispossessed members of the communities of their large parcels of land. The study recommends transparency leadership in land governance and fair compensation to the affected families whose land has been acquired by government.
Yuezhou Yang (London School of Economics)
Paper short abstract:
What explains the pattern of Chinese land-based investment in African Agriculture? This paper uses median-N comparative case studies to demonstrate that African states have played an important role in defining Chinese investment patterns in their land.
Paper long abstract:
This paper addresses the question that What explains Chinese investment in Agriculture in African countries? In the field of international land-based investments, the dominant narrative is that big powerful countries just enter into Africa and 'grab' the African land they want. Especially in the literature of China in Africa, the overarching theories portray China as a homogenous entity, and see Chinese overseas land-based investments as China's economic statecraft. However, there is accumulating evidence that shows great variation across and within African countries regarding foreign, including Chinese, land investment patterns. This suggests that African agency has played a pivotal role in defining variation patterns of foreign investment in land, and that, there are subtle and often decisive local constraints that shape investors' strategies. To fill in the gap in scholarship on property rights in land and international investments, this paper takes Chinese agricultural investments in Tanzania and Zambia as case studies. This paper argues, firstly, majority of Chinese agricultural investments are conducted by private actors and are closely in line with their own commercial rationale. Secondly, African states have played an important role in defining Chinese investment patterns in their land. This thesis will use detailed case studies to show how Chinese investors' choices around the nature and locations of their agricultural investment projects are shaped by the national governing strategies of African countries, which vary both cross-nationally and across subnational political-economic contexts. The case studies will be based on over 150 interviews that I have collected during my 8-month fieldwork in Tanzania and Zambia.