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Social Research and Development Policy: Two Approaches to West African Land-tenure Problems

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  • Volker Stamm

Abstract

This article analyses the extent to which the concepts underlying land policies in West Africa that prevail amongst the development organisations most active in this field correspond to the results of the intense debate on the same subject over the last three decades, which has involved almost all branches of the social sciences: ethnology, legal anthropology, sociology, history and rural economics. It is found that the outcomes of these academic analyses are in sharp contrast to the approaches propagated and translated into practice by development agencies, which often start from oversimplified and inadmissibly generalised assumptions, so that one must ask whether the diverging logics of these two disciplines are responsible for this marked difference.

Suggested Citation

  • Volker Stamm, 2009. "Social Research and Development Policy: Two Approaches to West African Land-tenure Problems," Africa Spectrum, Institute of African Affairs, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies, Hamburg, vol. 44(2), pages 29-52.
    • Handle: RePEc:gig:afjour:v:44:y:2009:i:2:p:29-52
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    File URL: http://hup.sub.uni-hamburg.de/giga/afsp/article/view/123/123
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Klaus Deininger, 2003. "Land Policies for Growth and Poverty Reduction," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 15125.
    2. Place, Frank, 2009. "Land Tenure and Agricultural Productivity in Africa: A Comparative Analysis of the Economics Literature and Recent Policy Strategies and Reforms," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 1326-1336, August.
    3. Brasselle, Anne-Sophie & Gaspart, Frederic & Platteau, Jean-Philippe, 2002. "Land tenure security and investment incentives: puzzling evidence from Burkina Faso," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 373-418, April.
    4. Fons De Zeeuw, 1997. "Borrowing of Land, Security of Tenure and Sustainable Land Use in Burkina Faso," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 28(3), pages 583-595, July.
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