Overview

Over centuries, African pastoralist societies have crafted institutions that enable them to survive in their harsh, semi-arid environment. Effectively managing communally held land has been one key to their success and a cornerstone of their social organization. Carolyn K. Lesorogol investigates the puzzling change over the last two decades as a number of pastoralist communities have sought to transform their land tenure system from communal to private ownership. She considers this change through an empirical, multi-method study of the process of land privatization and the economic and social outcomes of privatization at the household and community level.Using a range of qualitative and quantitative research methods, including participant observation, interviews, household surveys, experimental economics games, archival research, and use of new institutional economics, Lesorogol contributes to theories of institutional change by specifying the micro-foundations of change located in individual choices and group strategies as well as demonstrating the dynamic effects of shifts in bargaining power among actors involved in the change process.

Full Product Details

9780472070244

Table of Contents

Reviews

Lesorogol's use of experimental economics in this book is exciting and important. It is the only book that I know of that really examines the causes, processes, and outcomes of institutional change using a full complement of these methods. This book genuinely integrates multiple methods, and makes a strong theoretical argument even more believable and stronger because of the diverse data sets and multiple methods drawn on. - Elinor Ostrom, Arthur F. Bentley Professor of Political Science and Co-Director, Center for the Study of Institutions, Population and Environmental Change (CIPEC), Indiana University.

Author Information

Carolyn K. Lesorogol is Assistant Professor of Sociocultural Anthropology at George Warren Brown School of Social Work, Washington University in St. Louis.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available