Struggling for water and pastures in Niger

In Niger the question of rights to pastoral resourcesillustrates how struggles in Western mindset havebeen transported to the developing world. On the onehand there has been an attempt to standardise legalframeworks and land tenure practices with uniformrules. On the other handsince the 1990s customary practices are increasinglyrecognised in legal frameworks. Struggling for waterand pastures in Niger investigates the philosophicalassumptions behind the rules governing rights towater and pastures. It shows how these assumptionsinform natural resource struggles on the ground. Thebook reveals that points of contest betweenuniversalism and cultural relativism in regards toproperty public authority and justice are reflectedin both national legislation and internationaldevelopment practices. On the basis of a sensitivestudy of struggles over water and pastures in thepastoral areas the author accounts for the outcome ofconflict and cooperation and explains why herderslike people in other cultures conceive of theirrights in a contradictory manner: as requiringadoption to cultural specific conditions and yetapplies universally to all.