The Political Economy of Land Reform

Abstract

This chapter analyses the recent land reform that was enacted by the 2013 Code Foncier et Domanial (Land and Domain Code) and its results at end 2018, five years after. 1 Its orientation is significantly different from the other chapters, both in its purpose and approach. It is not so much a question of highlighting desirable areas for reform as it is of analysing an ongoing reform. In particular, it deals with the political economy of the reform. It provides a detailed history of a complex and contradictory process, discussing the reform's political and economic stakes, the groups of actors and interests that pushed it, those who are opposed to it, and those who seek to shape it for their own benefit. 2 1 In French-speaking African countries, land law makes a distinction between 'land' issues, which are about private property, and 'domain' issues, which are about state (and local government) owned or controlled land. Several countries have a Land and Domain Code, which deals with both dimensions. This is the case in Benin since the advent of the 2013 Land and Domain Code, which I will simply call the 'Land Code' or 'Code' in this chapter. 2 See Plançon (2017) for a legal point of view. * This chapter does not include recent developments, which represent a new step but will only be evoked in the Afterword. For space considerations the discussion is limited in some instances. For further details, see Lavigne Delville (2019). The analysis presented here is based on long-term research on land reforms in West Africa, with the main focus on Benin, that was initiated some fifteen years ago, and in particular on a two-month research trip in autumn 2018 specifically devoted to the political issues of the 2013 reform and its 2017 update. It has also benefited from a complementary research mission carried out in March 2019 as part of the Economic Development and Institutions project. I would like to thank the discussants and participants of the workshop organised by the project in Grand Popo in March 2019, in particular Mr Djibril-Akambi, Agence Nationale du Domaine et du Foncier Deputy General Manager, Kenneth Houngbedji and Jean-Philippe Platteau, for their contributions. I also thank Clement Dossou-Yovo, lawyer and land expert, for our numerous exchanges on this reform during all these years. Finally, I thank Romain Houssa for his careful review.