Chapter 1: Why “Property” - Foreign Military Studies Office - U.S. Army

toward Hispanic immigration to the state. Other identities may be atodds with one another as far as property rights are concerned. Forinstance, she may find it difficult to vote for a proposed ordinanceagainst serving alcohol in the county. She is both an alcoholic and amember of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.Which of her identities is momentarily operant? Many of herlisted identities may be individually less stable or substantive than onemight think. Almost all of our Kansan’s identities are artificial to somedegree. Our Kansan, for instance, could look forward to having one ofher kids play on the hockey team of a nearby Indian tribe. “Because oflow populations, some tribes accept members with only one qualifyinggrandparent.” 23 The need to maintain tribal membership is directlylinked to legal recognition, which is in turn connected to preferentialproperty rights. Our Kansan (until she moves across the river toMissouri) can choose which identities apply, and to what intensity shedecides to pursue a given issue at a given moment.The foregoing paragraphs make it apparent why the emotionalintensity of ownership claims can be so situation-specific. Anindividual may feel intense group solidarity in relation to competitionover one right associated with a piece of land, but may feel little senseof common identity in respect to another right associated with the sameland. This is one reason why many analyses of international conflictcan mislead. They often treat blocks of people and pieces of land in away that does not allow for variable weighting of identities based onthe specific rights in question. In domestic property adjudications,courts focus on specific rights, and plaintiffs’ and defendants’ lawyersare attentive to the cohesiveness of identity of all would-be owners. Inaddition, most ownership conflicts involve human characteristics suchas capriciousness, ambivalence, error and ignorance. Analyses ofinternational behavior, especially those that focus on state decisions,tend to underplay these human vagaries.23 Carl Waldman, Atlas of the North American Indian, (New York: Facts onFile, Inc., 1985), p. 199.31