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Land reform (also known as agrarian reform) involves the changing of laws, regulations, or customs regarding land ownership, land use, and land transfers.Batty, Fodei Joseph. "Pressures from Above, Below and Both Directions: The Politics of Land Reform in South Africa, Brazil and Zimbabwe". Western Michigan University. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association. Chicago, Illinois. April 7–10, 2005. p. 3. The reforms may be initiated by governments, by interested groups, or by revolution.
Land reform is often considered a contentious process, as land is a key driver of a wide range of social, political and economic outcomes. (2025). 9780521886543 ISBN 9780521886543 The structure and distribution of land rights has been linked to state formation, economic growth, inequality, political violence, and identity politics, making land reform highly consequential for the long-term structures of society.
Land reform may also entail the transfer of land from individual ownership—even peasant ownership in —to government-owned collective farms; it has also, in other times and places, referred to the exact opposite: division of government-owned collective farms into smallholdings.Adams, Martin and J. Howell. "Redistributive Land Reform in Southern Africa". Overseas Development Institute. DFID. Natural Resources Perspectives No. 64. January 2001. The common characteristic of all land reforms is modification or replacement of existing institutional arrangements governing possession and use of land. Thus, while land reform may be radical in nature, such as through large-scale transfers of land from one group to another, it can also be less dramatic, such as regulatory reforms aimed at improving land administration. Ghana's Land Administration Project
Western conceptions of land have evolved over the past several centuries to place greater emphasis on individual land ownership, formalized through documents such as land titles.Locke, John. Two Treatises of Government. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1689 1991. and Smith, Adam. The Wealth of Nations. Books 1—III. London: Penguin Books. 1999. Control over land may also be perceived less in terms of individual ownership and more in terms of land use, or through what is known as land tenure. "What is land tenure?" Food and Agriculture Organization. Historically, in many parts of Africa for example, land was not owned by an individual, but rather used by an extended family or a village community. Different people in a family or community had different rights to access this land for different purposes and at different times. Such rights were often conveyed through oral history and not formally documented.Dekker, Henri A.L. The Invisible Line: Land Reform, Land Tenure Security and Land Registration. Ashgate: Burlington, 2003. p. 2.
These different ideas of land ownership and tenure are sometimes referred to using different terminology. For example, "formal" or "statutory" land systems refer to ideas of land control more closely affiliated with individual land ownership. "Informal" or "customary" land systems refer to ideas of land control more closely affiliated with land tenure."Land Law." Law and Development. The World Bank. February 23, 2007. [7],
Terms dictating control over and use of land can therefore take many forms. Some specific examples of present-day or historic forms of formal and informal land ownership include:
Arguments in support of such reforms gained particular momentum after the publication of The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else by Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto in 2000. The poor, he argues, are often unable to secure formal property rights, such as land titles, to the land on which they live or farm because of poor governance, corruption and/or overly complex bureaucracies. Without land titles or other formal documentation of their land assets, they are less able to access formal credit. Political and legal reforms within countries, according to de Soto, will help to include the poor in formal legal and economic systems, increase the poor's ability to access credit and contribute to economic growth and poverty reduction.De Soto, Hernando. The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else. New York: Basic Books. 2000.
Many international development organizations and bilateral and multilateral donors, such as the World Bank, have embraced de Soto's ideas, or similar ideas, about the benefits of greater formalized land rights.Deininger, Klaus W. Land Policies for Growth and Poverty Reduction. The World Bank. 2003. [8] This has translated into a number of development programs that work with governments and civil society organizations to initiate and implement land reforms.World Bank. "Regional Study on Land Administration, Land Markets, and Collateralized Lending." 2003. [9] Evidence to support the economic and pro-poor benefits of increased formalized land rights are still inconclusive according to some critics (see "Arguments against land reform" below).
Other arguments in support of land reform point to the need to alleviate conflicting land laws, particularly in former colonies, where formal and informal land systems may exist in tension with each other.Moore, Jina. "Africa's continental divide: land disputes." Christian Science Monitor. January 30, 2010. [10] Such conflicts can make marginalized groups vulnerable to further exploitation. For example, in many countries in Africa with conflicting land laws, AIDS stigmatization has led to an increasing number of AIDS widows being kicked off marital land by in-laws. While the woman may have both customary and statutory rights to the land, confusion over which set of laws has primacy, or even a lack of knowledge of relevant laws, leave many AIDS widows at a significant disadvantage. Also, conflicting formal and informal land laws can also clog a country's legal system, making it prone to corruption.Tettey, Wisdom, B. Gebe and K. Ansah-Koi. "The Politics of Land and Land-related Conflicts in Ghana: A Summary." Land Policy Reform Project. Institute for Statistical, Social and Economic Research at the University of Ghana. 2008. [11]
Additional arguments for land reform focus on the potential environmental benefits of reform. For example, if reform leads to greater security of , through either formal or informal means, then those that use the land will be better stewards of it.World Resources Institute. "The Wealth of the Poor: Managing Ecosystems to Fight Poverty." 2005. and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). "Land Tenure and Rural Development." FAO Land Tenure Studies No. 3. 2002. Accessed August 21, 2010. Available: [12]
Land reforms carried out in Japan, Taiwan and South Korea are credited with contributing to the industrial development. The equitable distribution of land led to increasing agricultural outputs, high rural purchasing power and social mobility. (2025). 9780802121325, Grove Press. ISBN 9780802121325
Other groups and individuals express concerns about land reforms focused on formalization of property rights. While the economic and social benefits of formalized land rights are often touted, some research suggests that such reforms are either ineffective or may cause further hardship or conflict.
Additional arguments against land reform focus on concerns over equity issues and potential elite capture of land, particularly in regards to reforms focused on greater land formalization. If improperly or inadequately implemented, critics worry that such reforms may further disadvantage marginalized groups such as indigenous communities or women. These concerns also lead to questions about the institutional capacity of governments to implement land reforms as they are designed. Even if a country does have this capacity, critics worry that corruption and patrimonialism will lead to further elite capture. (2025). 9780821375884, World Bank Publications. ISBN 9780821375884
In looking at more radical reforms, such as large-scale land redistribution, arguments against reform include concerns that redistributed land will not be used productively and that owners of expropriated land will not be compensated adequately or compensated at all. Zimbabwe, again, is a commonly cited example of the perils of such large-scale reforms, whereby land redistribution contributed to economic decline and increased food insecurity in the country. "From breadbasket to basket case." The Economist. June 27, 2002 In cases where land reform has been enacted as part of socialism collectivization, many of the arguments against collectivization more generally apply.
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