The Role of Customary Institutions in Managing Conflict on Grazing Land: A Study from Mieso District, Eastern Ethiopia

Fekadu Beyene ()

No 7703, Institutional Change in Agriculture and Natural Resources Discussion Papers from Humboldt University Berlin, Department of Agricultural Economics

Abstract: This paper examines interethnic conflict on grazing land previously accessed as common property. The study was undertaken in Mieso District of eastern Ethiopia where two ethnic groups experience different production systems - pastoral and agropastoral. Game theoretic approach and analytic narratives have been used as analytical tools. Results show that the historical change in land use by one of the ethnic groups, resource scarcity, violation of customary norms, power asymmetry and livestock raids are some of the factors that have contributed to the recurrence of the conflict. The role of raids in triggering conflict and restricting access to grazing area becomes particularly important. Socio-economic and political factors are responsible for power asymmetry and increasing scale of raids. The joint effect of an increase in trend of violence and a decline in capacity of customary authority in conflict management advances state role in establishing enforceable property rights institutions. This would be successful only if policies and intervention efforts are redirected at: 1) suppressing incentives for violence, 2) establishing new institutional structures, in consultation with clan elders of both parties and 3) building internal capacity to monitor conflict-escalating events.

Keywords: Land; Economics/Use (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 31
Date: 2007
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/7703/files/dp070017.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:huiain:7703

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.7703

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Institutional Change in Agriculture and Natural Resources Discussion Papers from Humboldt University Berlin, Department of Agricultural Economics Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by AgEcon Search ().