Making the ‘rules of the game’: constituting territory and authority in Nicaragua's indigenous communities

dc.creatorLarson, A.M.
dc.date2010
dc.date2012-06-04T09:13:27Z
dc.date2012-06-04T09:13:27Z
dc.date.accessioned2026-06-27T14:04:02Z
dc.descriptionIndigenous communities, particularly in Latin America, are increasingly winning recognition of rights to lands and forests that they have managed or used historically under customary institutions. If property refers to ‘the rules of the game’, this article uses the constitution of indigenous communal territories in Nicaragua to examine the process of ‘making the rules’. Specifically, the recognition of rights by central governments leads to political contestations over both territory and authority as communities and indigenous political leaders vie for different configurations of both lands and new territorial authorities. That is, the process of constituting large collective territories is intimately related to the constitution of authority, as it involves not only the negotiation of physical boundaries but also the recognition of an existing authority structure – or the creation of a new entity – to represent the beneficiaries. In Nicaragua's North Atlantic Autonomous Region, then, the decision over ‘which configuration of territory’ is ultimately a political negotiation over which ‘authority’ will have the right to control and enforce access to which rights and benefits from land and natural resources.
dc.identifierhttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/20529
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/123456789/72824
dc.languageen
dc.sourceLarson, A.M. 2010. Making the ‘rules of the game’: constituting territory and authority in Nicaragua's indigenous communities . Land Use Policy 27 (4) :1143-1152. ISSN: 0264-8377.
dc.subjecttenure systems
dc.subjectcommunity forestry
dc.subjectpolitical systems
dc.subjectproperty rights
dc.titleMaking the ‘rules of the game’: constituting territory and authority in Nicaragua's indigenous communities
dc.typeJournal Article

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