7 - Mutual Gains from Hostile Confrontations: Land Boards, Their Clients and ‘Self-allocation’ in Botswana
Corresponding Author(s) : Ato Kwamena Onoma
Africa Development,
Vol. 34 No. 1 (2009): Africa Development: Special Issue on Legacies of Biafra: Violence, Identity and Citizenship in Nigeria
Abstract
This article argues that hostile confrontations between state and societal actors pursuing divergent goals can sometimes end up empowering both. In Botswana, successful efforts by less powerful clients to reclaim the power to allocate land from land boards through various stratagems ended up also strengthening the land boards and also the state. By tricking land boards into legitimizing plots on which they had squatted, clients brought their land interests to the awareness of the land board and contributed to bettering land board records. The better records enable land boards to allocate land and resolve disputes in more in- formed ways. Better records also provide state officials with valuable informa- tion that various state agencies can use to tax, police, plan and implement vari- ous social projects better. In presenting this argument, the article contributes to the state-in-society discourse by showing that we need not limit the possibility of positive sum gains to situations where state and societal actors collaborate to achieve mutual goals.
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- Anderson, P., 1979, Lineages of the Absolutist State, London: Verso.
- Arhin, K., 1985, Traditional Rule in Ghana: Past and Present, Accra: Sedco.
- Black, J., 1997, Maps and Politics, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
- Botswana, 1968a, National Development Plan, 1968–73, Gaborone: Government Printer.
- Botswana, 1968b, Official Report of the Proceedings of the Thirteenth Meeting of the House of Chief Sittings from 5th–7th August 1968, Gaborone: Government Printer.
- Bratton, M., 1994, ‘Peasant–State Relations in Postcolonial Africa: Patterns of Engagement and Disengagement’, in J. Migdal, A. Kohli and V. Shue, eds, State Power and Social Forces, New York: Cambridge University Press.
- Comaroff, J., 1980, ‘Class and Culture in a Peasant Economy: The Transformation of Land Tenure in Barolong’, Journal of African Law 24 (Spring)
- De Soto, H., 2000, The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else, London: Bantam.
- Dowding, K. et al., 2000, ‘Exit, Voice and Loyalty: Analytic and Empirical Developments’, European Journal of Political Research 37(4).
- Evans, P., 1995, Embedded Autonomy: States and Industrial Transformation, Princeton: Princeton University Press.
- Hayek, F., 1945, ‘The Use of Knowledge in Society’, American Economic Review 35 (September)
- Hecht S. and Cockburn, A., 1989, The Fate of the Forest: Developers, Destroyers and the Defenders of the Amazon, London: Verso.
- Herbst, J., 2000, States and Power in Africa: Comparative Lessons in Authority and Control, Princeton: Princeton University Press.
- Hirschman, A., 1970, Exit, Voice and Loyalty: Responses to Decline in Firms, Organizations and States, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
- Hobsbawm, E., 1973, ‘Peasants and Politics’, Journal of Peasant Studies 1 (October).
- Hyden, G., 1980, Beyond Ujamaa in Tanzania, London: Heinemann.
- Hyden, G., 1983, No Shortcuts to Progress, Berkeley: University of California Press.
- Jackson, R., 1990, Quasi-states: Sovereignty, International Relations and the Third World, New York: Cambridge University Press.
- Kalabamu, F. and Morolong, S., 2004, Informal Land Delivery Processes and Access to Land for the Poor in Greater Gaborone, Botswana, Birmingham: International Development Department, School of Public Policy, University of Birmingham.
- Kang, D., 2002, Crony Capitalism: Corruption and Development in South Korea and the Philippines, New York: Cambridge University Press.
- Kenya, 1933, Report of the Kenya Land Commission, Nairobi: Government Printer. Kohli, A. and Shue, V., 1994, ‘Contention and Accommodation in the Third World’, in J. Migdal, A. Kohli and V. Shue, eds, State Power and Social Forces, New York: Cambridge University Press.
- Machacha, B., 1986, ‘Botswana’s Land Tenure: Institutional Reform and Policy Formulation’, in J. W. Arntzen, W. L. D. Ngcongco, and S. D. Turner, eds., Land Policy and Agriculture in Eastern and Southern Africa: Selected Papers presented at a workshop held in Gaborone, Botswana, 14–19 February, 1982, Tokyo: United Nations University.
- Mathuba, B., (n.d.), ‘Land Administration in Botswana’, paper prepared for the National Conference on Land Reform, Namibia.
- Migdal, J., (1988,) Strong Societies and Weak States, Princeton: Princeton University Press.
- Migdal, J., 1994, ‘The State in Society: An Approach to Struggles for Domination’, in J. Migdal, A. Kohli and V. Shue, eds, State Power and Social Forces, New York: Cambridge University Press.
- Molosiwa, R., 1999, Botswana: An Official Handbook, 5th edn, Gaborone: Publicity Unit.
- Ngugi, J., 2004, ‘Re-examining the Role of Private Property in Market Democracies: Problematic Ideological Issues Raised by Land Registration’, Michigan Journal of International Law 25 (Winter).
- Nyamnjoh, F., 2007, “‘Ever Diminishing Circles”: The Paradoxes of Belonging in Botswana’, in M. de la Cadena and O. Starn, eds, Indigenous Experience Today, New York: Berg.
- Picard, L., 1985, Politics and Rural Development in Southern Africa: The Evolution of Modern Botswana, London: Rex Collings.
- Proctor, J. H., 1968, ‘The House of Chiefs and the Political Development of Botswana’, Journal of Modern African Studies 6 (May).
- Samatar, A., 1999, An African Miracle: State and Class Leadership and Colonial Legacy in Botswana Development, Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
- Schneider, B. R., 1998, ‘Elusive Synergy: Business–Government Relations and Development’, Comparative Politics 31 (October).
- Scott, J., 1985, Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
- Scott. J., 1990, Domination and the Arts of Resistance: Hidden Transcripts, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
- Scott, J., 1998, Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
- Spruyt, H., 1994, The Sovereign State and its Competitors, Princeton: Princeton University Press.
- Thapelo, W., 1997, The Traditional Tswana Kgotla: Let Us Know and Preserve our National Heritage Together, Gaborone: Department of Printing and Publishing Services.
- Thelen, K. and Streeck, W., 2005, ‘Introduction’, in W. Streeck and K. Thelen, eds, Beyond Continuity: Institutional Change in Advanced Political Economies, New York: Oxford University Press.
- Tilly, C., 1990, Capital, Coercion and European States, Cambridge, MA: Blackwell. Weber, M., 1946, ‘Politics as a Vocation’, in H.H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills, eds,
- From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology, New York: Oxford University Press. Werbner, R., 1980, ‘The Quasi-judicial and the Experience of the Absurd: Remaking
- Land Law in North-Eastern Botswana’, Journal of African Law 24 (Spring). Werbner, R., 2004, Reasonable Radicals and Citizenship in Botswana: The Public Anthropology of Kalanga Elites, Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
- Wynne, S., 1989, ‘The Land Boards of Botswana: A Problem in Institutional Design’, unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Indiana.
References
Anderson, P., 1979, Lineages of the Absolutist State, London: Verso.
Arhin, K., 1985, Traditional Rule in Ghana: Past and Present, Accra: Sedco.
Black, J., 1997, Maps and Politics, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Botswana, 1968a, National Development Plan, 1968–73, Gaborone: Government Printer.
Botswana, 1968b, Official Report of the Proceedings of the Thirteenth Meeting of the House of Chief Sittings from 5th–7th August 1968, Gaborone: Government Printer.
Bratton, M., 1994, ‘Peasant–State Relations in Postcolonial Africa: Patterns of Engagement and Disengagement’, in J. Migdal, A. Kohli and V. Shue, eds, State Power and Social Forces, New York: Cambridge University Press.
Comaroff, J., 1980, ‘Class and Culture in a Peasant Economy: The Transformation of Land Tenure in Barolong’, Journal of African Law 24 (Spring)
De Soto, H., 2000, The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else, London: Bantam.
Dowding, K. et al., 2000, ‘Exit, Voice and Loyalty: Analytic and Empirical Developments’, European Journal of Political Research 37(4).
Evans, P., 1995, Embedded Autonomy: States and Industrial Transformation, Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Hayek, F., 1945, ‘The Use of Knowledge in Society’, American Economic Review 35 (September)
Hecht S. and Cockburn, A., 1989, The Fate of the Forest: Developers, Destroyers and the Defenders of the Amazon, London: Verso.
Herbst, J., 2000, States and Power in Africa: Comparative Lessons in Authority and Control, Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Hirschman, A., 1970, Exit, Voice and Loyalty: Responses to Decline in Firms, Organizations and States, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Hobsbawm, E., 1973, ‘Peasants and Politics’, Journal of Peasant Studies 1 (October).
Hyden, G., 1980, Beyond Ujamaa in Tanzania, London: Heinemann.
Hyden, G., 1983, No Shortcuts to Progress, Berkeley: University of California Press.
Jackson, R., 1990, Quasi-states: Sovereignty, International Relations and the Third World, New York: Cambridge University Press.
Kalabamu, F. and Morolong, S., 2004, Informal Land Delivery Processes and Access to Land for the Poor in Greater Gaborone, Botswana, Birmingham: International Development Department, School of Public Policy, University of Birmingham.
Kang, D., 2002, Crony Capitalism: Corruption and Development in South Korea and the Philippines, New York: Cambridge University Press.
Kenya, 1933, Report of the Kenya Land Commission, Nairobi: Government Printer. Kohli, A. and Shue, V., 1994, ‘Contention and Accommodation in the Third World’, in J. Migdal, A. Kohli and V. Shue, eds, State Power and Social Forces, New York: Cambridge University Press.
Machacha, B., 1986, ‘Botswana’s Land Tenure: Institutional Reform and Policy Formulation’, in J. W. Arntzen, W. L. D. Ngcongco, and S. D. Turner, eds., Land Policy and Agriculture in Eastern and Southern Africa: Selected Papers presented at a workshop held in Gaborone, Botswana, 14–19 February, 1982, Tokyo: United Nations University.
Mathuba, B., (n.d.), ‘Land Administration in Botswana’, paper prepared for the National Conference on Land Reform, Namibia.
Migdal, J., (1988,) Strong Societies and Weak States, Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Migdal, J., 1994, ‘The State in Society: An Approach to Struggles for Domination’, in J. Migdal, A. Kohli and V. Shue, eds, State Power and Social Forces, New York: Cambridge University Press.
Molosiwa, R., 1999, Botswana: An Official Handbook, 5th edn, Gaborone: Publicity Unit.
Ngugi, J., 2004, ‘Re-examining the Role of Private Property in Market Democracies: Problematic Ideological Issues Raised by Land Registration’, Michigan Journal of International Law 25 (Winter).
Nyamnjoh, F., 2007, “‘Ever Diminishing Circles”: The Paradoxes of Belonging in Botswana’, in M. de la Cadena and O. Starn, eds, Indigenous Experience Today, New York: Berg.
Picard, L., 1985, Politics and Rural Development in Southern Africa: The Evolution of Modern Botswana, London: Rex Collings.
Proctor, J. H., 1968, ‘The House of Chiefs and the Political Development of Botswana’, Journal of Modern African Studies 6 (May).
Samatar, A., 1999, An African Miracle: State and Class Leadership and Colonial Legacy in Botswana Development, Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Schneider, B. R., 1998, ‘Elusive Synergy: Business–Government Relations and Development’, Comparative Politics 31 (October).
Scott, J., 1985, Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Scott. J., 1990, Domination and the Arts of Resistance: Hidden Transcripts, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Scott, J., 1998, Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Spruyt, H., 1994, The Sovereign State and its Competitors, Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Thapelo, W., 1997, The Traditional Tswana Kgotla: Let Us Know and Preserve our National Heritage Together, Gaborone: Department of Printing and Publishing Services.
Thelen, K. and Streeck, W., 2005, ‘Introduction’, in W. Streeck and K. Thelen, eds, Beyond Continuity: Institutional Change in Advanced Political Economies, New York: Oxford University Press.
Tilly, C., 1990, Capital, Coercion and European States, Cambridge, MA: Blackwell. Weber, M., 1946, ‘Politics as a Vocation’, in H.H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills, eds,
From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology, New York: Oxford University Press. Werbner, R., 1980, ‘The Quasi-judicial and the Experience of the Absurd: Remaking
Land Law in North-Eastern Botswana’, Journal of African Law 24 (Spring). Werbner, R., 2004, Reasonable Radicals and Citizenship in Botswana: The Public Anthropology of Kalanga Elites, Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Wynne, S., 1989, ‘The Land Boards of Botswana: A Problem in Institutional Design’, unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Indiana.