Property Relations by other Means: Conflict over Dryland Resources in Benin and Mali

Abstract

Conflicts over natural resources and property concern the distribution of entitlements to resources and social identities. The highlighting of this continuity enables the insertion of conflict into a broader historical and theoretical framework dealing with social change, as well as access to and control over resources. However, this reveals nothing about the discontinuity between tensions over natural resources and outbreaks of conflict involving physical and symbolic violence. Case studies carried out in Mali and Benin provide an empirical basis for the discussion of the following set of exploratory hypotheses: they stress the continuity between conflict and property within the frame of a theory of access to natural resources; they emphasise the plurality of actors involved in disputes over natural resources in African drylands beyond the farmer-herdsman configuration; and they see resource conflict, property and policy as a matter of persuasion, that is, representation and narrative.Les conflits sur les ressources naturelles et la proprie´te´concernent la distribution des droits sur les ressources et la de´finition des identite´s sociales. Mettre l'accent sur cette continuite´permet d'inse´rer le conflit dans un cadre historique et the´orique plus large touchant au changement social et a`l'acce`s et au controˆle des ressources naturelles. Toutefois, cela ne dit rien de la discontinuite´entre tensions sur les ressources et de´clenchement de conflits impliquant une violence physique et symbolique. Des e´tudes de cas au Mali et Be´nin fournissent la base de discussion d'hypothe`ses mettant l'accent sur la continuite´entre conflit et proprie´te´dans le cadre d'une the´orie de l'acce`s aux ressources naturelles ; montrant la pluralite´des acteurs implique´s dans les disputes sur les ressources naturelles en Afrique se`che au-dela`de la polarite´agriculteur-e´leveur ; concevant les conflits, proprie´te´s et politiques des ressources naturelles comme une affaire de persuasion, donc de repre´sentation et de re´cit.

Africa Current Issues - Climate Change and Conflict in West Africa

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Discourse Analysis of Nature Conservation Policies in Africa: a Beninese Case Study

“…As previously mentioned, the lack of resources allocated to the decentralization process, that takes more the form of a simple deconcentration of the central government than a real devolution of power to accountable local authorities (Ribot et al, 2006), also contributed to the "fatigue" of the community-based conservation approach. Moreover, local governments experience legitimacy and authority difficulties regarding the management of resources, as they face a plethora of actors already well established: the co-management bodies, NGOs, traditional authorities and the private sector (RB, 2011;Le Meur and Hochet, 2010).…”

Competition over Authority and Access: International Land Deals in Madagascar

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