Abstract
In sub-Saharan Africa, many of the large-sale civil wars that began around the end of the Cold War had come to an end in 1990s to 2000s, but the number of local conflicts over natural resources such as land has not decreased. This special issue focuses on the roles of traditional authorities in the current land-related conflicts. According to data gathered in over 26,000 interviews in nineteen African countries, many ordinary citizens believe that traditional authorities have essential roles in their social life, especially in the settlement of local disputes and land allocation. Intervention in land-related conflicts by traditional authorities has various effects that are highly dependent on social context. The involvement of traditional authorities sometimes contributes to mitigation of feelings of antagonism, sometimes results in the escalation of opposition, and sometimes results in traditional authorities themselves becoming party to a conflict. This special issue includes three articles that analyze the role of chiefs in the solution of land conflicts in post-conflict northern Uganda, the change in authority over land in Kenyan pastoral society, and local responses to recent ‘land grabbing’ in northern Zambia.
