Security of Land Tenure Papers and Unleashing Grass-root Investment for Rural Development in Africa: Some Comments

Formalisation of land rights: Some empirical evidence from Mali, Niger and South Africa

“…landrightswatch.net). Critics point to risks inherent in the formalisation process itself, including the high costs involved, the tendency of land markets to accentuate wealth differentiation, the problem of formalising existing inequalities, and the potential for opportunistic land acquisition by the elite that may precede formalisation (see for instance Benjaminsen, 2002;Mathieu, 2002;Benda-Beckmann, 2003;Benjaminsen and Sjaastad, 2003;Cousins et al, 2005). However, these reservations with regard to the potential benefits of the de Soto/ILD approach to formalisation are based on knowledge about previous experiences with top-down formalisation programmes as well as of customary tenure systems and what would be anticipated results on these systems.…”

Formalisation of land rights in the South: An overview

“…Compulsory, large-scale formalisation may breed opportunism ahead of implementation, may stretch bureaucratic capacity beyond breaking point, fostering short cuts and general sloppiness, and may force formalisation onto groups and individuals who do not want it (Lund, 1998;Mathieu, 2002). Simultaneous adjudication is also the opposite of an experiment-it does away with the opportunity to learn from small mistakes.…”

Examining sources of land tenure (in)security. A focus on authority relations, state politics, social dynamics and belonging

“…Together these arguments suggest that policy-makers and practitioners should attend to social struggles and contentious relations in the examination of sources of tenure (in)security and conceptions of practices of securing tenure. Mathieu (2002) moreover demands attending to the 'changing rules of the game' to which people have different abilities to respond. Nevertheless, the more powerful can also be subject to tenure insecurity if they are outsiders to the community and/or outside the dominant group controlling land allocation (Platteau, 1996;Boone, 2014).…”