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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | The Evolutionary Theory of Land Rights as Applied to Sub-Saharan Africa: A Critical Assessment |
Author: | Platteau, Jean-Philippe |
Year: | 1996 |
Periodical: | Development and Change |
Volume: | 27 |
Issue: | 1 |
Period: | January |
Pages: | 29-86 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | Subsaharan Africa |
Subjects: | land reform customary law land law Politics and Government Military, Defense and Arms |
External link: | https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7660.1996.tb00578.x |
Abstract: | A central tenet of the evolutionary theory of land rights is that under the joint impact of increasing population pressure and market integration, land rights spontaneously evolve towards rising individualization and that this evolution eventually leads the holders of rights to press for the creation of duly formalized private property rights - a demand to which the State will have an incentive to respond. This article looks critically at the relevance of the evolutionary theory of landrights as currently applied to sub-Saharan Africa. It examines the effects of land titling on land security, on the functioning of the land market, and on credit and investment and pays attention to the mechanism of demand for, and supply of, land titling. The question of whether the establishment of private property rights is an advisable structural reform in the present circumstances is examined. It is argued that most of the beneficial effects usually ascribed to such a reform are grossly overestimated and that, given its high cost, it is generally advisable to look for more appropriate solutions that rely on existing informal mechanisms at community level. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. |