Customary Structures Research Articles

Changing land and labour relations on cocoa farms in Sefwi, Ghana: Continuity and change

Ever since the late 1880s when cocoa began to be grown commercially in Ghana, land and labour has been mobilized to expand the area under cocoa trees and cultivate the crop. The first cocoa farmers ingeniously used and adapted existing social norms for land acquisition and recruitment of labour from both the extended family and from migrants. The resulting development of cocoa was a remarkable story of African innovation and enterprise that made the then Gold Coast one of the most prosperous parts of Africa by the mid-twentieth century. We look at how land and labour has been mobilized for cocoa in Sefwi, western Ghana, from the start of cocoa growing in the region in the 1940s through to 2019. We ask what current norms are, how they have evolved, and why changes to them have been made. Changes in land and labour relations in the area have not followed the linear evolutionary theory of land tenure change neither have they remained as unique immutable customary structures. We note a flexible, reversible and highly pragmatic logic in tandem with the ruling exigencies that account for patterns of change over time.

STIRLING ENGINE: FROM DESIGN TO APPLICATION INTO PRACTICE AND EDUCATION

Stirling motor is a type of outside ignition heat motor that can utilize various fuel sources from customary structures (coal, oil, kindling, rice husk, and so forth) to sustainable power sources (sun-oriented energy), climate, squander heat usage, and so forth). The article centers around introducing the fundamental highlights of the improvement history, activity qualities, and plan techniques for certain sorts of Stirling motors, in this way offering useful appropriateness as well as a college preparing for understudies. The understudy studying Thermal Engineering in our nation today.

Nothing is New Under the Sun Featuring: The Chief in Ghana’s Politics

The conceptualization of Chiefs as instruments of politics is not a new concept. Over the last two decades or so, there has been a vile practice perpetuating in Ghana’s politics where chiefs are being used by politicians to gain political advantage or solicit for votes. The first trace of this political game can be tracked to the era of indirect rule. For much of the 19 th century, British exercised its dominion over the people of Ghana through their chiefs. Indirect rule could be comprehended as the idea to use existing customary structures and traditions as canals for creating rules and regulations, while British officers operated behind the scenes to gain the approval and support of Ghanaians [1] . The practice today is not so dissimilar from colonial times. The outstanding distinction is bared in the fact that today, politicians are not trying to hide their diplomatic control over Chiefs. Keywords: the chief, chieftaincy institution, indirect rule, active politics, partisan politics DOI: 10.7176/JLPG/115-10 Publication date: November 30 th 2021 [1] England’s Indirect Rule in its African countries. American Historical Association. Available at https://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning -in-the-digital-age/England’s-indirect-rule-in-its-African-countries.

Impacts of Socio-political Organisational Structures Underpinning Indigenous Land Tenure Systems. Evidence from Ghana

To benefit from the underutilised potential of urban land resources, the introduction and improvement of land registration and cadastral systems have been advocated. However, evidence from empirical research in a number of developing economies including those in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) continues to show mixed or inconclusive outcomes from the implementation and operations of such systems. This paper argues that for introduced formal systems to succeed in providing the relevant outcomes it is essential to examine the socio-political organisational structures that underpin the prevailing customary land tenure practices. The paper focuses on the examination of the changing roles of authority structures and rules regarding control and access to land resources within the context of the customary land sector. Due to the varying influences of colonial and post-colonial policies and laws, a dualistic land tenure regime consisting of formal and customary structures and rules has emerged that mediates the land delivery processes to varying degree across countries in SSA. The findings of the current study highlight the importance of social organisation that gives form, meaning and relevance to a land tenure system. This suggests that there is the need to be cautious when embarking on land rights formalisation activities, since unintended outcomes can occur given the peculiarities of the social context of a jurisdiction. Particularly, any strategy for improving land registration systems for the provision of land information must take into consideration the nature of the land tenure systems, especially the customary structures and rules in a particular jurisdiction.

Environmental justice and REDD+\u2009safeguards in Laos: Lessons from an authoritarian political regime

Balancing agendas for climate mitigation and environmental justice continues to be one of the key challenges in climate change governance mechanisms, such as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+). In this paper we apply the three-dimensional environmental justice framework as a lens to examine the REDD+ process in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Laos) and the REDD+ social safeguards. We focus particularly on challenges to justice faced by marginalized communities living in forest frontier areas under an authoritarian regime. Drawing on policy analysis and open-ended interviews across different policy levels, we explore procedural, distributional, and recognitional justice across the REDD+ policy levels in Laos. We find that REDD+ social safeguards have been applied by both donors and state actors in ways that facilitate external control. We underscore how authoritarian regime control over civil society and ethnic minority groups thwarts justice. We also highlight how this political culture and lack of inclusiveness are used by donors and project managers to implement their projects with little political debate. Further obstacles to justice relate to limitations inherent in the REDD+ instrument, including tight schedules for dealing with highly sensitive socio-political issues under social safeguards. These findings echo other research but go further in questioning the adequacy of safeguards to promote justice under a nationally driven REDD+. We highlight the importance of recognition and political context, including aspects such as power relations, self-determination and self-governance of traditional or customary structures, in shaping justice outcomes.

Multilevel governance of large-scale land acquisitions: a case study of the institutional politics of scale of the farm block program in Zambia

Scholarly debate continues about the role of institutional policies in shaping outcomes of large-scale land acquisitions (LSLAs) in host countries. In contribution to this debate, this paper aims at assessing how land governance institutional structures in Zambia interplay with LSLA deals. It draws on the theory of multilevel governance. The paper tests the theory on Nansanga farm block that is part of the long-standing agricultural policy to improve the agriculture sector. Overall, the LSLA-policy interplay is plagued with national party politics, and lack of institutional coherence in land governance between state and customary structures. The results reveal institutional overlaps and policy inadequacy in governing signed LSLA deals. Rural development and commercial agriculture are the most important LSLA policy thrusts. Finally, traditional chiefs, local councils and commissioner of lands represent the multilevel governance structures of land governance in Zambia where corruption is perceived to be the most rampant in LSLA deals.

Between Tradition and Modernity: Customary Structures as Agents in Local Governance in Ghana

Local governance in many developing countries attracts several stakeholders who maintain a lot of significance in improving well-being, service delivery, accountability, and responsibility. The plural legal system where government structures exist side by side with customary structures in many countries south of the Sahara provides an opportunity to explore relationships, partnerships, and interactions among them. With ethnographic evidence from Kpandai District in Northern Ghana, this article explores customary structures not only as cultural and religious leaders with authority embedded in tradition but also as major stakeholders in local governance. The article argues that historical factors, coupled with limited government presence at the local levels, have positioned customary structures as an accessible channel to the people in the district. Customary structures have forged informal relationships and partnerships with government structures to bring the government closer to the people and to access basic services.

Exploring patterns of forest governance quality: Insights from forest frontier communities in Zambia’s Miombo ecoregion

Good forest governance is a prerequisite for sustainable forest management and the successful implementation of initiatives that aim to reduce deforestation and forest degradation. The necessity for good governance is high in Zambia’s Miombo ecoregion, which is characterised by persistent deforestation that also threatens forest-dependent livelihoods. Zambia has adopted policies and initiatives to improve forest governance. We use the Governance of Forests Initiatives (GFI) indicator framework from the World Resource Institute in 24 communities in the Miombo ecoregion to examine Zambia’s status in this respect. The Wilcoxon rank test is applied to compare the de facto governance performance between different arrangements with differing tenures and restrictions to forest access and use. We employ factor analysis to test the applicability of the GFI framework based on community perceptions and cluster analysis to examine whether patterns of community clusters reflect the governance structure of the provincial local government administration. Comparative results show low mean scores for governance indicators, which do not differ significantly between arrangements. This indicates a weak de facto forest governance performance across arrangements, specifically characterised by an inadequate enforcement of rules and restrictions on use, insufficient institutional financial, human and technical capacities and unsatisfactory participatory land use planning and forest policy-making processes. We recommend support for financial and technical institutional capacities combined with coordination mechanisms to permit the satisfactory enforcement of forest rules. Frequent monitoring, apprehension and graduated sanctions are proposed as part of the rule enforcement procedures. Stringent de jure requirements coupled with capacity building for participatory land use planning and public policy participation also need to be adopted. This would also contribute towards achieving targets for Zambia’s climate change response strategy, national development plan 2017–2021 and REDD + preparedness phase. The factor analysis largely confirms the GFI framework’s suitability for governance analysis on the ground since factors generally mirror GFI indicators. However, because de facto governance processes sometimes do not precisely reflect thematic areas of the framework, we warn against the use of single indicators to exclusively represent a thematic area. Similarly, specific attention has to be paid to customary rules and institutions when applying the GFI framework because compared to the framework, the respective aspects are more clearly differentiated on the ground. Cluster analysis reveals a high variability of governance processes within and across provinces. Decentralization measures should take into account clusters that may in some cases follow administrative levels or in other cases go beyond the established administrative boundaries. Specifically, initiatives to integrate customary structures into the decentralized governance structure should take these regional differences into account.

An assessment of the implications of alternative scales of communal land tenure formalization in pastoral systems

Pastoralism faces diverse challenges, that include, among others, land tenure insecurity, that has necessitated the need to formalize land rights. Some governments have started regularizing rights for privately owned land, but this is complex to implement in pastoral areas where resources are used and managed collectively. Our aim was to assess how the scale of communal land tenure recognition in pastoralist systems may affect tradeoffs among objectives such as tenure security, flexibility, mobility, and reduction of conflicts. We used a participatory scenario-building approach to investigate alternative scenarios of land tenure recognition in southern Ethiopia where a new communal land tenure system is in the early stages of implementation. Through key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and a workshop, respondents analyzed the likely outcomes of communal land tenure recognition at different scales. Our findings suggest that there is a good chance of success when the tenure policy is embedded onto customary structures. All scales have some shortcomings, but Reera seems best, yet pastoralists preferred the Dheeda which despite its challenges, is the best for maintaining flexible mobility. There are multiple uncertainties and complexities, which suggest the for multi-pronged approaches and various support mechanisms when implementing a formal land tenure system in these areas.

Etnografi Masyarakat dan Hukum Adat Kabupaten Humbang Hasundutan Sumatera Utara

This scrip is a "blue print" of the community and customary law in Humbang Hasundutan District of North Sumatra. Aim to find solutions to resolve conflicts related to agrarian resources. Access rights to communal land, applied implementation in policy determination, exploration, conflict mitigation. Describe the legal system and local wisdom that live in indigenous peoples. The research research method uses qualitative research with the ethnographic approach of James P. Spradley. The technique of collecting data is in-depth interviews, participant observation and oral traditions. This ethnography is holistic-integrative, thick description, and qualitative analysis to get native's point of view. The results of the study revealed the mechanism of genological inheritance to children and closest relatives. Inheritance recognized as customary recession, panjaean land for boys or ulos na so buruk for boru girls. Mechanism of buying and selling ulos tu piso, dondon mortgage, giving, contract. Forms of social entities, bius, partolian, golat, huta, marga raja which are customary structures that play the role of holders of communal access rights. Decision-makers and dispute resolution, Pago-pago, Horja, Bius, Raja Nihuta, Bius Raja, Paradaton, Paripe, Nomads enculturation. The socio-political aspects of the community of Sionom Hudon, PBM, Sihas, Chair of the institution, Raja Nihuta, Bius Raja, Paradaton, Paripe.

CONSCIOUSNESS RAISING DAN PARTISIPASI POLITIK SUKU BADUY DI ERA DIGITAL (TINJAUAN AWAL)

Development communication can play a role in the development of isolated rural communities from the metropolis world. The Baduy people that lives at the foot of the Kendeng Mountains in Kanekes Village, Leuwidamar District, Lebak-Rangkasbitung Regency, Banten, still maintains its customs and culture in the digital era. On the other hand, through the concept of critical awareness from Paulo Freire, the Baduy people is very likely to change towards a more dynamic condition. This study uses a qualitative method with an analytical descriptive approach, through interview techniques and library research. The results of the study indicate that consciousness raising as a process of development communication and community empowerment can be used as a tool to measure political participation in the Baduy people. Their significant involvement in the 2014 General Elections and 2017 Regional Elections (Pilkada) is proof of the Baduy people's compliance with government regulations. Even though in certain situations customary structures have the power to prohibit their people from participating in elections or regional elections.

Peranan Masyarakat Adat Petalangan Dalam Mengamalkan Nilai Struktur Adat Berbasis Kearifan Lokal Lingkungan

Indonesia's natural resources (SDA) along the equator, from the west to the east are experiencing accelerative, extensive and massive shrinkage. The erosion of natural resources almost does not put forward the concept of sustainable development, it has even entered the areas of indigenous peoples. The loss of land forests, for the people of Petalangan does not only mean losing livelihoods and livelihoods, but more fundamentally is the loss cultural resources. Petalangan Indigenous People in Riau were formerly in the government of the Kampar Kingdom then this kingdom changed its name to the Kingdom of Pelalawan. They live berpuak fathers and tribes. In adapting to the environment, community groups develop environmental wisdom as a result of the abstraction of experience managing the environment. This study aims to analyze the role of the indigenous people Petalangan in applying the values of customary structures based on environmental wisdom. The research method was conducted using qualitative descriptive method. Sources of data selected by purposive and snowball sampling. Data obtained data sourced from primary and secondary data. Data was collected through interviews and observations. From the research it can be concluded that kinship system, ethnic group, institutional structure, legal values, customary norms, sanctions and symbolics play a role in strengthening the local wisdom culture environment because they feel one lineage and in one community that has the same interests, the community feels land, river and the jungle must be guarded because of the common property in accordance with the sense of kinship possessed by the Petalangan community, in customary customs there is a regulation about the use that relates to the environment.

Ecosystem Management in Large-scale Irrigation Landscapes in Northern Ghana

The concept of ecosystem and ecosystem management services has given rise to different definitions and classifications. Ecosystem may be defined as a natural unit of living things and their physical environment. Ecosystem concept shows the relationship of biodiversity and ecosystems and the benefits are the services enjoyed by humans. In the past, ecosystem resources were used by multiple groups and individuals across sub-Sahara for variety of purposes, sustaining agrarian livelihood through the use of customary laws and traditional social structures. After the Ghana’s 1992 amended constitution, lands in large-scale irrigation in the northern Ghana were returned to the traditional custodians. The study seeks to establish the current role of traditional custodians’ management of ecosystem in irrigation landscapes. The study was conducted in the Tono and Bontanga irrigation landscapes in Northern Ghana using participatory impact assessment methods. Despite the return of lands in irrigated landscapes, formal links and relationships are broken and little is done to amend the situation. Also, there is no clear understanding of the natural resources ownership and management and therefore transition from traditional subsistence agriculture into modern one, supported by irrigation and other technically advanced methods, with a full participation of the small-holder farmers are still lacking.

Should humanitarian interveners promote democracy after genocide?

Scholars and policymakers in the West commonly hold that liberal countries that intervene to stop genocide subsequently ought to establish democratic political institutions to enable peaceful collective self-determination. I argue that this guidance is problematic. First, introducing electoral democracy in deeply ethnically divided societies – especially but not only after genocide – often results in either tyrannical majority rule or deadlocked decision making rather than inclusive self-determination. Second, normatively speaking, John Rawls made a strong case that inclusive self-determination can be achieved through ‘decent,’ less than democratic political structures that enable group-based representation. Bringing these insights together, I argue that particularly for postgenocidal societies that lack prior experience with liberal democratic rule, outside interveners should stop short of actively promoting full electoral democracy and instead consider promoting hybrid political institutions that combine popularly elected bodies with customary authority structures. Such hybrid institutions can prevent tyrannical majority rule as well as decision-making deadlock. They are also likely to fit better with local culture. Therefore, they may offer a more robust foundation for peaceful self-determination. A discussion of hybrid institutions in postwar Somaliland and Bougainville illustrates how these arrangements can facilitate peaceful self-determination in practice.

WHY HISTORIANS BELIEVE THAT CUSTOMARY TENANTS NORMALLY PAID FOR THEIR OWN BUILDINGS: A REPLY TO PAMELA SLOCOMBE

This paper rebuts Pamela Slocombe’s suggestion that manorial lords were principally responsible for building the houses of their customary (copyhold) tenants in the later Middle Ages. After briefly reviewing the evidence for landlords’ involvement in freeholds, leaseholds and urban buildings, taking note of previous studies of documentation of peasant building, and omitting published manorial accounts that say nothing about buildings, it examines published accounts covering fourteen widely scattered estates to show that normally nothing was spent on customary tenements. Original MS accounts are then analysed to show that lords’ expenditure on customary structures was restricted to a small minority of buildings on a minority of manors of a minority of lords, for short periods in the fifteenth century only, and for exceptional reasons.

Clinical Legal Education and Its Asian Characteristics

This article began with a consideration of the history and an evaluation of CLE in the United States, and it now moves on to evaluate the characteristics of CLE in Asia. However, using the term ‘Asian characteristic’ is somewhat amorphous. It can be quite vexing to try to define what is meant by Asia, as it is a broad continent with many nationalities, religions, ethnicities, languages and cultures. The same can be said for Asian legal systems, which possess a mixture of common law, civil law, Sharia law and customary law structures, often with a number of these structures existing within a single nation state. These legal systems have a multitude of roots and origins, with some dating back centuries and others having a more recent strong colonialist influence.

Natural resource degradation and conflict in the East African pastoral drylands

Based on a literature review, this article examines the dynamics in pastoral systems, natural resource conservation and conflict in the drylands of East Africa. It argues that, in the context of East Africa, pastoralism and biodiversity conservation in general are distinct forms of land use that are complementary rather than competitive. The present state of natural resource degradation in the drylands is explained in terms of factors related to ecological and demographic pressures, land use conflicts and inefficient land administration policies. When the customary pastoral institutions of land administration and resource management are threatened, the problem of degradation is further exacerbated and violent conflicts occur among multiple resource users, including pastoralists, farmers and the state. The article recommends the revitalisation, empowerment and recognition of pastoral institutions in a way that ensures effective synergy between the formal and customary structures of resource governance.

Resilience, panarchy and customary structures in Afghanistan

‘Fragile’ and ‘failed state’ discourse leads to a reductionist portrayal of failure that can obscure the presence of patterns of resilience. This paper examines the role of resilience theory, and one of its derivations, ‘panarchy’, in relation to the restorative agency of communities, simultaneous fragmentation and positive adaptation across multiple connected systems in Afghanistan. The results suggest that the resilience of Afghan communities to conflict and violence has depended on the durability of both their positive and negative adaptive strategies in providing a range of public services to fill in the void left by government. While customary structures have been sources of order and solidarity at the local level, they have also fomented destabilisation and frustrated the extension of the neoliberal governmentality and the securitisation agendas. Customary affiliations have adapted in multiple and overlapping ways, demonstrating a high level of community resilience in the face of widespread disrupti...

Levirate marriage amongst the Hebrews and widow's inheritance amongst the Yoruba: A comparative investigation

In ancient Israel, even though widowhood was not something people were praying for, when it came, the people involved were protected by the legal and customary structures already in place. One of those structures in the Old Testament is the institution of the levirate marriage where the right and the possession due to a widow without a son for her late husband could be protected and appropriated. A similar custom was also found amongst the pre-colonial Yoruba people through the widow�s inheritance which guarantees the welfare of the widow after the demise of her husband. However, these structures have been dismantled by Christianity, thereby exposing the majority of present-day widows to untold hardship. This article, therefore, through historical, descriptive and comparative methods, examines the customs of the levirate marriage and widow�s inheritance in the two cultures, ascertains how effective they were in addressing the welfare and protection of the rights and privileges of widows and recommends how the church can better see to the welfare of the widows in the society.

Explaining institutional persistence, adaptation, and transformation in East German recreational-fisheries governance after the German reunification in 1990

We investigated the capacity of a natural resource governance system to absorb a disturbance while maintaining its major structures and functions (defined as institutional resilience). Exemplified by East German recreational fisheries governance being disturbed by the German reunification, we studied why in five out of six East German states the former centralized governance system persisted while in one state a decentralized governance system was implemented. Based on resilience thinking and new institutional economics, three analytical steps were developed to assess: (1) the structure and function of the governance system, (2) the attributes of the disturbance and the reorganization process, and (3) human motivations. The centralized system persisted because leading managers wanted to preserve customary structures and functions, minimize transaction costs of change, and maintain powerful positions. This was possible because of their influential positions in the reorganization process. Our results suggest that in externally induced, fundamental, and rapid disturbances decision-makers tend to prevent transformations in their governance system. However, key managers in the sixth state faced the same disturbance but their lack of leadership and an emerging rivalry for fishing rights facilitated a transformation to decentralized governance. Thus, attributes of disturbances can be leveraged by actors' motivations in the reorganization process.