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Report - Paying For The Past: Addressing Past Property Violations In South Africa, Bernadette Atuahene
Report - Paying For The Past: Addressing Past Property Violations In South Africa, Bernadette Atuahene
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Property Rights & The Demands Of Transformation, Bernadette Atuahene
Property Rights & The Demands Of Transformation, Bernadette Atuahene
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The conception of property that a transitional state adopts is critically important because it affects the state’s ability to transform society. The classical conception of real property gives property rights a certain sanctity that allows owners to have near absolute control of their property. But, the sanctity given to property rights has made land reform difficult and thus can serve as a sanctuary for enduring inequality. This is particularly true in countries like South Africa and Namibia where—due to pervasive past property theft— land reform is essential because there are competing legitimate claims to land. Oddly, the classical conception is …
Things Fall Apart: The Illegitimacy Of Property Rights In The Context Of Past Theft, Bernadette Atuahene
Things Fall Apart: The Illegitimacy Of Property Rights In The Context Of Past Theft, Bernadette Atuahene
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In many states, past property theft is a volatile political issue that threatens to destabilize nascent democracies. How does a state avoid instability when past property theft causes a significant number of people to believe that the property distribution is illegitimate? To explore this question, I first define legitimacy relying on an empirical understanding of the concept. Second, I establish the relationship between inequality, illegitimate property distribution, and instability. Third, I describe the three ways a state can achieve stability when faced with an illegitimate property distribution: by using its coercive powers, by attempting to change people’s beliefs about the …
From Reparation To Restoration: Moving Beyond Restoring Property Rights To Restoring Political And Economic Visibility, Bernadette Atuahene
From Reparation To Restoration: Moving Beyond Restoring Property Rights To Restoring Political And Economic Visibility, Bernadette Atuahene
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Abstract: How does a democratic state legitimize strong property rights when property arrangements are widely perceived to be defined by past theft? The answer, I argue, is through restorative justice measures that redistribute wealth based on past dispossession. This answer, however, leads to two more complex questions: Who gets priority in the restorative process given limited resources and how should the process unfold? The concise answers to these two ancillary questions are: First, instances of what I call property-induced invisibility should be prioritized as a baseline for achieving legitimacy. When property is confiscated in this manner people are removed from …
Land Titling: A Mode Of Privatization With The Potential To Deepen Democracy, Bernadette Atuahene
Land Titling: A Mode Of Privatization With The Potential To Deepen Democracy, Bernadette Atuahene
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Land titling is a form of privatization in that public assets are transferred to private families and individuals. This is unlike other forms of privatization, however, because there is a systematic diffusion of economic and decision making power down to indigent populations rather than out of the country or up to its local elites. In light of this uniqueness, the question I will grapple with in this Article is, can property ownership, achieved through land titling programs, bolster democracy? First, using Peru as an example, I explain the context that necessitated the creation of land titling and the process by …
Legal Title To Land As An Intervention Against Urban Poverty In Developing Nations, Bernadette Atuahene
Legal Title To Land As An Intervention Against Urban Poverty In Developing Nations, Bernadette Atuahene
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One intervention intended to ameliorate poverty and its subsidiary effects is the distribution of legal title to land to poor urban dwellers, otherwise known as land titling. Given the billions of dollars that the World Bank, country-based development agencies, regional development banks, and developing countries themselves have spent on land titling programs, it has become one of the most important property law issues confronting the developing world. Several countries have undertaken comprehensive urban land titling programs to transform the dwellings of those who live in the squalor of squatter settlements into assets recognized by the formal sector. This Article accepts …