In the aftermath of war, local government in Western Equatoria, South Sudan, set out to formalize urban land to make it more legible, less conflictual, and ready for the state’s vision of tomorrow. But the process proved problematic, and it caused and rekindled countless land disputes. Based on qualitative research at courts, county offices, and contested plots, this paper finds that these disputes were at their root about five competing normative repertoires about land distribution:…
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CSRF Research Repository
The CSRF Research Repository aims to support greater contextual knowledge for policy makers, programme managers, and implementers by providing a searchable repository of research, analysis, and resources, and providing periodic updates on new research and analysis.
This paper examines how land governance – or the rules, processes, and structures through which decisions are made about access to land and its use, the manner in which the decisions are implemented and enforced, and the way that competing interests in land are managed – has interacted with the conflict in South Sudan. A theme running through the paper is that control over decisions relating to land, as much as control over the land…
Civil war and violence often force large numbers of people to leave their lands. Multiple waves of displacement and (partial) return generate complex overlapping claims that are not easily solved. As people return to their regions of origin—sometimes after decades—they tend to find their land occupied by other settlers, some of whom hold legal entitlements. In the places of arrival, displaced people affect other people’s access as they seek to turn their temporary entitlements into…
Land is often a critical aspect of conflict: it may be a root cause or trigger conflicts or may become an issue as the conflict progresses. Conflicts lead to forced evictions; the people who are displaced by conflict need somewhere to live and some land to farm or to graze their animals, often leading to further disputes over the use of land and other resources. This publication – which also refers to South Sudan -…
This article analyzes how transformations of land governance in the new Republic of South Sudan play into processes of everyday state formation. National land tenure reforms and decentralization policies have increased polarization between local public authorities in and around Yei Town, who vie for legitimacy amongst returning refugees, internally displaced people and migrants arriving in the wake of the civil war. Ambiguously worded national policies and shifts in the composition of the population provide a…
This article recounts how, in the years prior to independence in 2011, returnees successfully assembled land for inhabitation and productive use through autochthonous modes of governance, legitimation and inscription. Link to publication
This report explores the underlying factors of land disputes and boundary conflicts; by shifting away from the national legislation and policy, it looks at changing land values, patterns of decentralisation and local hybrid ssystems of land governance as explaining factors.
This paper is based on a preliminary exploration of local representation in the Bor County Land Authority (CLA) in South Sudan. CLAs were set up with the mandate to represent rural communities and incorporate local concerns in land matters. The study explored the means of CLA authorization, communicative interactions, and the extent of downward accountability. Download
This briefing paper from 2013 demonstrates the different challenges that land access, use, and management systems present to food security throughout the country. Although ongoing food insecurity is driven by a number of interdependent factors, interventions in agricultural production and dispute resolution at the policy and project levels have largely ignored the fundamental challenges posed by overlapping customary and statutory land tenure systems. Download
This document presents the results of research on land tenure and property rights and and provides recommendations for the land policy. Download
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