Governing Land in Post-War Settings: Land Conflicts, Land Reforms, Legal Pluralism, and State Formation in Burundi

Summary

Post-war governments are implementing interventions to address past land dispossession and enhance the conflict-resolving capacities of land-governing institutions. Land governance reforms are considered as effective strategies for reforming and improving land governance in the post-conflict setting, offering a promising path toward reconstruction and sustainable peace. However, in practice, the contribution of these reforms to improve land governance is ambiguous and unclear. This dissertation explores the relationship between post-war changes in land governance, legal and institutional pluralism, land dispute resolution, and the process of state formation in Burundi. Specifically, it examines how reforms concerning land dispute resolution, land restitution, and localized land rights formalization have influenced land governing capacity, structures, practices, and power relations. The dissertation advocates that analyzing the intersection of land governance reforms and how claims over land are settled and contested will provide critical insights into everyday processes that make up authority, legitimacy, and the state.