African Elites’ Land Control Maneuvers

AbstractThe general assumption in the literature is that African elites’ efforts to control land, either through acquiring personal land holdings or assuming administrative responsibilities, are self-interested. In this regard, two questions might be raised: 1) why and how do African elites seek to control land in the contexts of different communities and states? and 2) what impacts do their land control maneuvers have upon their communities and states? In this paper, I discuss these questions, examining and contrasting the different ways in which an expanding and diversifying elite class in several African countries manipulate the rules and practices of land tenure.