Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Series editor's preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Politics, Institutions, and Animals: Explaining the Content, Continuity, and Change of African Wildlife Policy
- I The National Politics of Wildlife Policy
- II The Bureaucratic Politics of Wildlife Policy
- III The Local Politics of Wildlife Policy
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
1 - Politics, Institutions, and Animals: Explaining the Content, Continuity, and Change of African Wildlife Policy
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Series editor's preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Politics, Institutions, and Animals: Explaining the Content, Continuity, and Change of African Wildlife Policy
- I The National Politics of Wildlife Policy
- II The Bureaucratic Politics of Wildlife Policy
- III The Local Politics of Wildlife Policy
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
It cannot be too strongly emphasized that in a country where vast rural areas carry small populations, the wild life in one shape or another is a main economic force just as much as the soil or the water supply.
T. G. C. Vaughan-Jones, Director of Game and Tsetse Control, Northern Rhodesia, 1948INTRODUCTION
Africa's wildlife fascinates citizens of industrialized countries. They watch scores of television documentaries about the continent's animals. They spend large sums of money to go on safaris in Africa. They remove ivory and spotted furs from their wardrobes to help conserve African wildlife. They include Africa's fauna in curricula to teach their children the value of protecting these species. And they contribute millions of dollars to international conservation organizations who claim that - but for lack of funding - Africa's magnificent animals could be saved from destruction.
Given this intense interest in Africa's wildlife, it is surprising that we know so little about its importance to the individuals and governments of Africa itself. Although hundreds of studies have addressed the biological and ecological aspects of African fauna, relatively little research has examined the many and important roles wildlife plays in the political economy of African countries. We know little about the relationship between Africans and wildlife, about how different people and groups in Africa possess varying ideas about what constitutes good wildlife policy, about how African governments construct or change their wildlife policies, or about how political and economic institutions can shape these policies over time.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Politicians and PoachersThe Political Economy of Wildlife Policy in Africa, pp. 1 - 18Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1999