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(Opinion) lack of property rights in Africa: cause of conflict?

If you ask people from countries in the west and beyond what's the world greatest invention,the internet, the wheel or the iPod will usually come, up but what should come up more is the invention of property rights. while property rights may not inspire as much wonder as internet or the iPod and has a very bad reputation
(at least in Marxist and Anarchist circles where it has reached swear word status)but without it, capitalism  cannot work as anyone can claim ownership of land, leading infinite disputes among a unknown number of parties.

Property rights avoids this conflict by simply ensuring the right of the individual to own a commodity ( land or property for the purpose of this short essay) and can keep or use the said commodity as the rightful owner sees fit.When such a system does not exist where land or property can be bought and owned by the individual,or the there is no system in place that can clearly attribute land or property to an owner, this almost ensures an  Hobbesian nightmare begins to take shape.

Without property rights guaranteed and protected by law or neutral arbiter, the abuse of power become the norm as other actors can claim, with force, ownership over a given property. This problem is rife within the global south , particularly in Africa as many states on the continent have little or no discernible property rights system to show who owns what in relation to land.

 in this legal black-hole, it is left to the state to manage the county's real estate,  the problem with this is the majority of states in Africa are no guarantors of economic rights. In knowledge of this, it is no wonder why economic  development in many African states has failed to take off as the lack property rights means that African find it difficult to acquire credit as they have little else to offer as collateral.

Added to this already trying mix is the rapidly growing trend of African states selling land to multinational corporations regardless of whether people occupy it or not. land disputes lead into many of problems  in Africa such as conflict as dispossessed individuals look for other means to survive as land is of great importance in economies still dominated by the agricultural sector.

In sum, property rights is not catch-all solution for problems in Africa or anywhere else with similar problems  but represents a step in the right direction. The codification and enforcement of property rights will help attenuate land disputes, which has served as a focal point of many conflicts in Africa thrown in the mix of predatory governments and rival militias, very often split along tribal lines.

         

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(Opinion) Afghanistan: Shitstorm Central

In general all wars are pointless, but the war in Afghanistan has to take a very bloody biscuit. with no clear mission or even an exit strategy, the allied forces find themselves in a land were they are unwanted and hated in equal measure. They face an enemy who seem, despite heavy losses, to be two steps ahead and is slowly gaining support, a public who have as much appetite for occupation as they do for a shit sandwich, and a  political class and security force which are both corrupt and inept.

With the recent scandal involving a US soldier,suspected not to have acted alone, killing sixteen Afghanistan citizens, the already chainsaw proof tension between the people of Afghanistan and their western occupiers will intensify greatly. This incident comes in a growing line of  public relations nightmares with the burning of the koran by US troops and the released footage of US troops urinating on dead Taliban fighters, which not only seems to reveal a certain lack of discipline but the realization of the soldiers of just how pointless their mission is as it has become apparent this is a war that the allied forces cannot win .

This scandal will almost certainly culminate in revenge attacks most likely to be perpetrated by the Taliban, who have already sworn retribution.this will also serves as powerful recruitment propaganda for the Taliban and Al-Qaeda if lack of economic opportunity wasn't enough of a motivation. the Obama administration has set out to apologize for the afghan deaths caused by a US soldier knowing full well it won't help forestall the tragedies to come when even the US installed president 'mayor of Kabul' Karzai acknowledges such an act cannot be forgiven.

In sum, all arguments aside, pro or anti war, Afghanistan is not a country and hasn't been for last forty years. it has played the hostile host to tyrannical rulers, conquest hungry empires, and death and suffering beyond human imagination. the best favour or help the US can lend to the country is to leave and to leave quickly as an ill defined mission, the corrupt and inept organs of the afghan political system and security force, and the growing number of violent incidents involving US troops will surely lead to more loss of life on all sides in a nation that has grown accustomed to conflict.