1st Edition

Confronting Land and Property Problems for Peace

Edited By Shinichi Takeuchi Copyright 2014
    308 Pages
    by Routledge

    306 Pages
    by Routledge

    This collection clarifies the background of land and property problems in conflict-affected settings, and explores appropriate policy measures for peace-building. While land and property problems exist in any society, they can be particularly exacerbated in conflict-affected settings – characterized by unstable security, weak governance, loss of proper documentation as well as the return of refugees and Internally Displaced Persons. Unless these problems are properly addressed, they can destabilize fragile political order and hinder economic recovery. Although tackling land and property problems is an important challenge for peace-building, it has been relatively neglected in recent debates about liberal peace-building as a result of the strong focus on state-level institution building, such as security sector reforms and transitional justice. Using rich original data from eight conflict-affected countries, this book examines the topic from the viewpoint of State-society relationship.

    In contrast to previous literature, this volume analyses land and property problems in conflict-afflicted areas from a long-term perspective of state-building and economic development, rather than concentrating only on the immediate aftermath of the conflict. The long-term perspective enables not only an understanding of the root causes of the property problems in conflict-affected countries, but also elaboration of effective policy measures for peace. Contributors are area specialists and the eight case study countries have been carefully selected for comparative study. The collection applies a common framework to a diverse group of countries – South Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Cambodia, Timor-Leste, Colombia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

    1. Introduction: land and property problems in peacebuilding, Shinichi Takeuchi  2. The land question, internal conflicts and international statebuilding in South Sudan, Nadarajah Shanmugaratnam  3. Land disputes in the Acholi sub-region in Uganda: from displacement to dispossession, Fumihiko Saito and Christopher Burke  4. Land tenure security in post-conflict Rwanda, Shinichi Takeuchi and Jean Marara  5. Dealing with land problems in post-conflict Burundi, Sylvestre Ndayirukiye and Shinichi Takeuchi  6. Property rights in the statebuilding of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mari Katayanagi  7. Colombian land problems, armed conflict and the state, Noriko Hataya, Sergio Coronado, Flor Edilma Osorio and Nicolás Vargas  8. Land problems in Cambodia: the historical influence of conflict, Ryutaro Murotani  9. Land, state and community reconstruction: Timor-Leste in search of a sustainable peace, Antero Benedito da Silva and Kiyoko Furusawa  10. Conclusion: confronting land and property problems for peace, Shinichi Takeuchi, Mari Katayanagi and Ryutaro Murotani

    Biography

    Shinichi Takeuchi is a visiting fellow at the JICA Research Institute and Director of the African Studies Group at the IDE–JETRO (Institute of Developing Economies – Japan External Trade Organization). He has a PhD from the University of Tokyo. Having specialised in the political economy of Central African countries, his current interest lies in the processes of statebuilding and peacebuilding in the area with particular focus on land problems.