Land Reform for Peace? Rwanda's 2005 Land Law in Context
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A decade ago, Rwanda embarked on a major land reform programme. The government envisaged a new land law, supported by a land policy, and claimed that the new tenure system would contribute to enhancing food production, social equity and the prevention of conflict. The Land Law was finally passed in the summer of 2005. The UK Department for International Development (DFID) has taken on significant responsibility for monitoring the reform programme. This article provides a contextualized reading of the new Law. It argues that its emphasis on the obligation to consolidate fragmented family plots and register them will exacerbate social tension, but that some of the potential for social strife may be reduced because the state will allow flexibility in how the Land Law is implemented.
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Rwanda has a long history of intense land competition and grievances over dispossession, often framed as Hutu-Tutsi ethnic conflict.
“The country has a long history of intense competition over land and grievances over land dispossessions, often framed in terms of ethnic conflict between Hutu and Tutsi.(For a historical perspective on today's policy discussions, see Pottier 2006.)”
From Agricultural Land Redistribution and Land Administration in Sub-Saharan Africa: Case Studies of Recent Reforms (2014) · cites this paper as Pottier 2006
The 2005 law contains a dichotomy: provisions enhancing tenure security and market responses coexist with antimarket provisions enforcing efficient land use and allowing compulsory consolidation.
“There is a major dichotomy in the law.On one hand, there are provisions intended to enhance security of tenure to create incentives and enable farmers' responses to markets.But on the other, there are provisions that reflect a strong antimarket inclination on the part of the government”
From Agricultural Land Redistribution and Land Administration in Sub-Saharan Africa: Case Studies of Recent Reforms (2014) · cites this paper as Pottier 2006
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(2014) · World Bank · doi:10.1596/978-1-4648-0188-4 · Cited by 45 · see citing works
- Authors
- POTTIER, J.
- Affiliations
- University of London (GB)
- Corresponding author
- POTTIER, JOHAN
- Venue
- Journal of Agrarian Change
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2006-10
- Volume
- 6
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 509-537
- ISSN
- 1471-0358 (ISSN-L)
- 1471-0366
- OpenAlex
- W1995149045
- Cited by
- 103
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 10 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 8 · 2012: 9
- FWCI
- 7.24
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Agrarian Change (publishedVersion)
- Center for International and Regional Studies (Georgetown University) (submittedVersion)
- SOAS Research Online (SOAS University of London) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Land Rights and Reforms
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › General Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Agriculture, Land Use, Rural Development
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › African studies and sociopolitical issues
- Keywords
- land reform, land law, land tenure, land consolidation, family plots, land registration, conflict prevention, social equity, food production, land policy, DFID, Rwanda, agrarian conflict
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