Titling against grabbing? Critiques and conundrums around land formalisation in Southeast Asia
Hirsch, Philip
Debates and critiques around land policy often focus on the neo-liberal agenda of formalising land as alienable property, most notably through land titling schemes. Sometimes these schemes are posited against alternatives such as land reform and community land holding under common property arrangements. Claims and counterclaims are made for land titling as a means to boost smallholder security in the face of involuntary or otherwise unfair alienation of land sometimes under the rubric of land grabbingg. This paper problematises the ways in which assertions are made on behalf of land titling, critiques are constructed against formalised title in land, and debates are framed in the context of land grabbing. A diverse range of perspectives on land titling in Southeast Asia reveals not only contrary positions, but also lines of argument that talk past each other as often as they engage with one another. Underlying this rather unsatisfactory way in which an important policy arena is discussed at both academic and societal levels is a set of conundrums based as much in internal contradictions and dilemmas as in clear alternatives between different land policy approaches.
Event: International Conference on Global Land Grabbing
Only personal, non-commercial use of this document is allowed.