From formal rules to local practices: a comparative perspective between Algerian and Mexican land reforms

Jean-Philippe Colin (), A. Daoudi, Eric Léonard () and Emmanuelle Bouquet ()
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Jean-Philippe Colin: SENS - Savoirs, ENvironnement et Sociétés - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - UPVM - Université Paul-Valéry - Montpellier 3 - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement
A. Daoudi: ENSA - École Nationale Supérieure d’Agronomie [Alger]
Eric Léonard: SENS - Savoirs, ENvironnement et Sociétés - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - UPVM - Université Paul-Valéry - Montpellier 3 - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement
Emmanuelle Bouquet: UMR MoISA - Montpellier Interdisciplinary center on Sustainable Agri-food systems (Social and nutritional sciences) - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - CIHEAM-IAMM - Centre International de Hautes Etudes Agronomiques Méditerranéennes - Institut Agronomique Méditerranéen de Montpellier - CIHEAM - Centre International de Hautes Études Agronomiques Méditerranéennes - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - Institut Agro - Montpellier SupAgro - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement

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Abstract: One of the key issues raised by land policies is the frequent distance between the legal and administrative frameworks as designed by the central power (i.e., formal institutional change), the effective implementation of these policies, and the actual local land practices grounded in the actors' agency. This paper tackles this issue from a comparative perspective regarding land reforms in Algeria and Mexico, drawing on literature reviews, a sound knowledge by the authors of the two countries' land policies, including in a historical perspective, and on the authors' long-term involvement in first-hand field research. Despite historical, social and political differences, the comparison reveals a strikingly convergent picture that allows a certain degree of generalization either in land reform dynamics or in the local practices that emerged after the reforms were implemented. In both cases, the reforms went through successive stages of expropriation and land redistribution, reorganizational structures through which the land was accessed and used, and a specification of beneficiaries' rights emphasizing their collective, non-tradable dimensions. Comparing the situation in Algeria and Mexico sheds light on two fields of practices that reflect the actors' agency while facing heavy government interventions in the local governance of land: a process of de facto decollectivization of agricultural production, and individualization of land rights, and a process of illegal land commoditization, partly through sales, but mainly, through tenancy arrangements. The comparison also illustrates convergences in the form of inadequate public interventions, as well as pragmatic adjustments in administrative practices in order to accommodate for the informal dynamics of individualization and fragmentation.

Keywords: Land reform; Decollectivization; Individualization; Commoditization; MEXIQUE; ALGERIE (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Published in Land Use Policy, 2021, 101 (80), 105120 [12 p.]. ⟨10.1016/j.landusepol.2020.105120⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03107177

DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2020.105120

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