Land and property institutions: Endogenous origins and equilibrium effects

Arbeitspapier

The idea of the state in Africa as institutionless underlies much contemporary theorizing about African politics. The term "neopatrimonialism" - widely employed in the comparative politics literature to describe African political systems - implies lack of institutionalization, centralization of power in the hands of a supreme ruler, and government through personalized, shifting networks. The counterpart of this idea is institution-less conceptualization of society, and most importantly perhaps, of rural society, which accounts for 50-90% of the total population of almost all African states. This paper reverses this image of structure-less states and societies. It focuses on rural land tenure institutions and argues that they are the product of institution-building strategies of Africa's modern rulers, both colonial and postcolonial.

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• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Working Paper Series ; No. 15-174

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft
• Subject: Africa ; Neopatrimonialism ; Land-tenure ; Institution ; Rural society

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Boone, Catherine
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), Department of International Development
• (where): London
• (when): 2015

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/224800