| 1. |
- Buur, Lars, et al.
(författare)
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Mediating bureaucrats: embedded economic action in the Mozambican sugar industry
- 2020
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Ingår i: Journal of Modern African Studies. - 0022-278X. ; 58:3, s. 337-360
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article develops the concept of ‘mediating bureaucrats’ by exploring their role during liberal reforms that led to rehabilitation of the sugar industry in Mozambique. By focusing on how relations between the state, government and business are mediated by a group of cadres who have occupied positions in different social domains, the article argues that these ‘mediating bureaucrats’ cannot easily be identified in one-dimensional terms as belonging to either the public or private sector, the state or the market. It is argued that as ‘socially embedded actors’, the group of ‘mediating bureaucrats’ are in a position to translate and mediate between diverse and sometimes conflicting interests and aspirations of the state, the government and business. We use the rehabilitation of the sugar industry in Mozambique to show how mediating bureaucrats adopted two practices – muddling through and translation – in order to straddle conflicting interests during different reform initiatives in post-independence Mozambique.
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| 2. |
- Buur, Lars, et al.
(författare)
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State recognition of traditional authority in Mozambique : the nexus of community representation and state assistance
- 2005
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- How should the Mozambican traditional leaders' double role as community representatives and state assistants be captured? This discussion paper addresses some fundamental questions pertaining to the 2002 official recognition of traditional leaders as community authorities. After a brief history of the changing role of, and faith in, traditional authorities as a basis for understanding the importance of their recent official recognition, the paper outlines the key objectives of the Decree 15/2000 that officially recognises community authorities. Some of the key concepts underpinning the Decree are then critically assessed. It is argued that the double role that community authorities are expected to fulfil as both community-representatives and state-assistants is not equally balanced in the Decree: the scale tips heavily towards the state-assistance aspect. The reasons for this are explored in the context of a set of reified notions underpinning the Decree, such as its understanding of 'traditional rules' and the concept of 'community'. The paper concludes by pointing out some unintended con-sequences of these reified notions for kin-based forms of community authority and especially for the ideal of community participation.
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| 3. |
- Buur, Lars, et al.
(författare)
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The Political Economy of Land and Natural Resource Investments in Africa: An Analytical Framework
- 2017
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Large-scale investments in natural resources (extractives as well as agriculture) can help transform African economies by accelerating economic growth, creating jobs and strengthening the links between local economies and the global economy more broadly. However, they often end up violating rights, which in turn may lead to social protests and political instability. This Working Paper develops an analytical framework for analysing the implementation of large-scale investments in natural resources. It focuses on the triangular relations between investors, local populations and ruling elites. The framework treats the outcomes of these triangular relationships as involving ‘reciprocal exchange deals’ between investors and local populations, ‘compatible interests’ between ruling elites and investors, and ‘productive social relations’ between local populations and ruling elites. We show that, in order to understand why some investments are implemented more successfully than others, it is necessary to grasp the politics behind an investment. The paper also explores the conditions under which investments can be implemented without violating the rights of local populations. The paper is based on a review of the relevant bodies of literature and is linked to ongoing empirical studies of large-scale natural resource investments in Mozambique, Tanzania and Uganda related to gas/oil, mining and agriculture.
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| 4. |
- Buur, Lars, et al.
(författare)
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Understanding the three key relationships in natural resource investments in Africa: An analytical framework
- 2019
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Ingår i: The Extractive Industries and Society. - : Elsevier BV. - 2214-790X. ; 6, s. 1195-1204
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Large-scale investments in natural resources can help transform African economies by accelerating economic growth, creating jobs and strengthening the links between local economies and the global economy. However, they often violate the rights of local populations and leave them with few benefits, which in turn may lead to social protests and political instability, potentially causing investments to be delayed or abandoned. In this article we explore how investments are implemented. To understand this, we develop a framework for explaining the triangular relations between investors, local populations and ruling elites. We argue that all three relations need to be taken into account in order to understand how investments are implemented (or fail to be implemented) and the extent to which the rights of local populations are accommodated. We focus in particular on how local populations react to investments with protests and resistance in order to understand how investments are implemented. We describe three examples of such investments: sugar in Uganda, rice in Mozambique and gas in Tanzania. We use these examples to further develop an analytical framework that moves from a focus on rights as absolute to one that see rights as outcomes of the relations between the main groups of actors involved in the implementation of large-scale natural resource investments: investors, ruling elites and local populations. The article is based on extensive fieldwork by the authors and the research teams they are part of that have explored large-scale natural resource investments in Mozambique, Tanzania and Uganda in the gas/oil and agricultural sectors.
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| 5. |
- Johansson, Kajsa, 1979-
(författare)
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The Conditions of Peasant Organisation : Fragmented Livelihoods and Social Memory in post-Independent Mozambique
- 2023
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The thesis is an inquiry into peasants’ collective organisation inMozambique since the country’s Independence in 1975. It brings togetherfour published studies and aims to understand the historical and socioeconomic conditions for different forms of peasant organisation in postIndependence Mozambique. An abductive approach is applied and adialogue between theory, method and the ethnographic material from thetwo northern provinces of Niassa and Nampula runs through the thesis. Thefirst study concludes that peasants’ organisation is hampered by thefragmentation, instability and unpredictability of peasants’ livelihood,leading to a low level of classness. The second study examines the strugglefor the right to land as an exception in terms of a broad-based collectiveorganisation. The third study explores how peasants’ memories of theindependence movement and first years of socialist policies are mobilisedin a critique against current policies. Finally, the fourth study examines thecontinuity of power of the traditional leadership at local level, providinginsights into the local structural conditions for peasants’ collectiveorganisation.Based on the four studies, the thesis suggests the following three mainconditions for peasants’ organisation: First, peasant household livelihood,where fragmentation, instability and unpredictability lead to difficulties toidentify central and enduring interests and conflicts peasants are engagedin, that could be the foundation for their collective organisation. Second, theorganisational structures and positions in peasant societies. In the contextof peasants, already occupied spaced for organisation, repression andhistorical backpack hamper their organisation. Peasants’ issues are capturedat local level by party, civil society and traditional leadership. Peasants arein abundance. And third, the peasants’ consciousness. The thesis concludesthat there is a relatively strong consciousness among peasants with regardto structure, inequalities, as well as formulation of thought, strong senseamong the elderly of peasant way and peasant society.
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| 6. |
- Matai Manjate, Fernando, 1976-
(författare)
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SOMETHING GOOD BUT NOTHING TO BE PROUD OF : Inheritance and Succession Practices, and Sociopolitical Stakes in Times of Decentralization in Marracuene, Mozambique
- 2022
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This ethnographic study focuses on inheritance and succession practices and sociopolitical stakes in present-day Marracuene in southern Mozambique. It explores how in contexts of rapid economic, social, cultural and political change, individuals, social actors and institutions deal with inheritance and succession rights, both when the property holders and incumbents are still alive and after they have passed away. Besides exploring legal processes, this study approaches inheritance and succession as social, cultural, economic and political processes.The study is based on twelve months of fieldwork, and, to a lesser extent, archival research. It focuses on inheritance and succession through five entry points. First, the study looks at how people deal with inheritance and succession rights pertaining to their own life situation. Second, it explores cultural understandings, as well as different strategies and arguments mobilized to secure and safeguard inheritance and succession rights. Third, the study investigates how individuals anticipate what is going to happen with inheritance and succession after their passing. Fourth, it explores how in global, national and local arenas rights and interests of traditionally weak social actors, such as widows and orphans, are defended and protected from disinheritance and dispossession. Fifth, the study analyses the extent to which local inheritance and succession practices relate to, and are influenced by, ongoing sociopolitical transformations, such as decentralization and urbanization, in Marracuene.Ethnographically, the study describes and analyzes actual inheritance and succession practices and strategies of individuals, kin groups and various sociopolitical institutions. The study furthermore describes and analyzes local politics, notably in relation to decentralization processes, so as to analyze the practical implications of the fact that chieftaincy and other community-based positions are nowadays defined as “community authorities,” according to the Mozambican state law. The findings show that there are general principles of inheritance and succession: a man is supposed to transfer inheritance to his wife and children and to be succeeded by his eldest child. However, such principles are often overruled, which can lead to disinheritance and dispossession of widows and orphans. The actual inheritance and succession practices result from a combination of factors. They include the economic and cultural values of the properties and positions in question (and the ways through which they were acquired), the power and authority of the actors, the power relations between different social actors involved in each case, the normative orders referred to and their interpretation and practical implementation, and the institutions involved in the process of decision-making. Overall, people have different understandings of inheritance and succession that furthermore more influence practices. In a local context of legal pluralism, individuals and groups tend to combine different normative orders and practices to claim and secure their rights, or to protect themselves whenever their rights are questioned. Through detailed ethnographic descriptions, the study demonstrates that inheritance and succession are complex processes and depend on economic, social, cultural and political factors at play in specific circumstances.
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| 7. |
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The security-development nexus : expressions of sovereignty and securitization in Southern Africa
- 2007
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Samlingsverk (redaktörskap) (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The link between security and development has been rediscovered after 9/11 by a broad range of scholars. Focusing on Southern Africa, the Security-Development Nexus shows that the much debated linkage is by no means a recent invention. Rather, the security/development linkage has been an important element of the state policies of colonial as well as post-colonial regimes during the Cold War, and it seems to be prospering in new configurations under the present wave of democratic transitions. Contributors focus on a variety of contexts from South Africa, Mozambique and Namibia, to Zimbabwe and Democratic Congo; they explore the nexus and our understanding of security and development through the prism of peace-keeping interventions, community policing, human rights, gender, land contests, squatters, nation and state-building, social movements, DDR programmes and the different trajectories democratization has taken in different parts of the region.
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