Land reforms, with the majority bordering on full scale revision of tenure rules have become a recurrent theme in the agenda of most African states since attaining political independence. For southern Africa, and a number of former colonies where the white settler populations acting in concert with the colonial administrations dispossessed the majority of the native populations of their land, the reforms have taken the form of restitution and redistribution of land. Unlike these types of reforms in southern African and because the Bechuanaland Protectorate was not a settler colony, Botswana has framed its land tenure and land use reforms with an eye on the problems associated with common property management. My dissertation evaluates the effects of Botswana's land reforms on social transformations in Kweneng District by carefully investigating their impacts on households' livelihood strategies, kinship ties, and social balance of power on one hand, and the implications of these transformations for urbanization on the other.While acknowledging the good intentions of the government as encapsulated in the objectives of the reform policies, it is my contention that several areas which were never taken into account during the formulation of these policies have been adversely impacted. Unfortunately, the unintended consequences have overshadowed the targeted ends of the reforms. These results are visible in the contemporary family and kinship structure, the chieftaincy institution, livelihood systems in livestock and arable agriculture, administration of justice, and the phenomenon of urbanization.

No description available.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1982. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH / Bibliography: leaves 56-60. / by Toye Helena Brewer. / M.C.P.

No description available.

This research examines the interrelationships between customary and statutory tenure systems in Swaziland, in relation to urban development. It also focuses on the assumptions, aspirations and practices of modern and traditional authorities in relation to the processes of urban development. The Swaziland Urban Development Project (SUDP) initiated in the late 1980's, to upgrade informal settlements of Swaziland's cities, is used to examine the extent to which these land tenure interrelationships impact on the residents and the upgrading of informal settlements. Implementation of the SUDP (insitu upgrading) in Manzini, only took place in 2007 – a decade after the original planned commencement date. This was because the traditional leaders of the informal settlements of Moneni area (an area where the project would be piloted), did not accept the project. Since the Government and the Municipal Council of Manzini did not want to use force (Municipal Council of Manzini, 2004) it entered into further negotiations. This study investigates why the project was not accepted, examines the role of the traditional leaders in the non-acceptance of the project and the changes in attitudes towards the project in 2007. In the process, it explores the diverse responses to the SUDP and the processes of negotiation between the traditional and urban authorities, demonstrating how both authorities fought for retention of their authority over the area and also for their own vision of 'development'. Such contestation resulted in protracted discussions on the part of the urban authorities, whilst the issue of authority remains inconclusive. To investigate the impact of these interactions on the residents of the informal settlements, the study interrogates the assumptions of the development planners (project officials from Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (MHUD), City Councils and the World Bank) with regard to the benefits of the project. The different understandings of development priorities, different assumptions about the outcomes of the SUDP and the complex interactions that occur between formal and traditional structures have undermined efforts to improve living conditions of the urban residents. This study demonstrates that these assumptions of policy-makers and planners and their aspirations are colonially inherent and based on western thinking about modernisation. The implementation of grandiose plans and the making of a beautiful city are pursued, whilst residents lament that from their perspective there is ‘no development'. In addition, the study takes cognisance of social differentiation - separately examining how women in the project area were affected by the project. This study therefore demonstrates that the main challenge underlying the process of improving the living conditions of informal settlements' residents is the existence of different urban land tenure systems, managed by various authorities namely; urban authorities (government, municipalities) and traditional authorities, both asserting their legitimacy over the areas.

Traditionally, transnational land deals have been described in terms of the purportedly level playing field of the competitive market. The law is seen as a neutral device, merely increasing efficiency in the management of surplus and shortage; scarcity is viewed as a natural constraint; power is considered irrelevant. However, an analysis of the historical structures of agricultural land ownership and contemporary land transactions in Brazil uncovers the systematic monopolization of land resources that was set in place during colonization and has persisted across a variety of political regimes, sustained by hierarchical legal institutions. In sharp contrast to the narrative of impersonal axes of supply and demand, this dissertation develops a theoretical framework suggesting that i) the capitalist market tends towards highly concentrated economic structures, or monopoly; ii) at the core of this propensity to high concentration is Braudel’s “alliance between the merchant and the prince”: the mutual dependence between the biggest players in the market on a quest for monopolies and the holders of the political power of the state; and iii) this alliance shapes the law and is, in turn, influenced and constrained by law, where law is a cornerstone of market construction situated at the intersection of the political and economic spheres. This framework recognizes that law supports the capitalist market by writing an idea of the future into the present and favoring certain expectations, interests, and values over others. Law structures time by determining precedence, subordination, and consequence; law also delineates, distributes, and organizes space. In particular, property rights are the heart of the alliance between merchant and prince, giving the former the power to define the legal structures of the market through their negotiations with the latter. The rise of cross-border land transactions is the latest iteration of these age-old dynamics, unfolding against the backdrop of concentrated land ownership and exacerbating its growth. The transformation of land into a financial asset obscures ownership, hampers regulation, and facilitates concentration; it is the core mechanism for globalized land ownership. The framework proposed in this dissertation sheds light on the hierarchies impressed onto Brazil’s land map and enshrined in its codes. These unequal power relationships and the legal entitlements that allow land monopolists to intentionally heighten resource scarcity have long been obfuscated by the competitive market model. The three-part framework (monopoly, the alliance, and the law) offers a more accurate account of transnational land deals, and of avenues of access to and control of land in Brazil and beyond. In the current context of escalating climate crisis, as land is increasingly regarded as a vital resource and traded both within and across borders, this reframing contributes to an urgent conversation.

Summary: Since the glorious days of Queen Elizabeth the name of the County of Devon has been connected in men�s minds wth English colonial expansion. Sir. Humphrey Gilbert, Sir Walter Raleigh, Grenville, Drake, Hawkins-these were the men with whom colonization from England originated. During the reign of King James 1 a Plymouth Company had traded extensively with America; and so, when about the year 1840 projects for the settlements of the lands of the South Pacific were so much discussed it was hoped that, if the energy and zeal which had prompted the efforts of the great-searovers of the Elizabethian era were still to be found among their descendants, then the old Plymouth Company might rise again with renewed vigour to grace the pages of future Australasian history with names then connected with the brightest annals of the Mother Country.

Thesis (M.A.)--Addis Ababa University, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 133-139).

Thesis (M.Sc.)--University of Alberta, 2010. / Title from pdf file main screen (viewed on January 11, 2010). At head of title: University of Alberta. A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Forest Economics, Department of Rural Economy. Includes bibliographical references.

Originally presented as the author's Thesis (doctoral)--Universidad de Valencia, 1978. / Includes bibliographical references.