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Bernadette Atuahene

Selected Works

Law and Society

Articles 1 - 6 of 6

Full-Text Articles in Law

Researching Law's Special Issue On "We Want What's Ours", Bernadette Atuahene Dec 2014

Researching Law's Special Issue On "We Want What's Ours", Bernadette Atuahene

Bernadette Atuahene

Researching Law is a socio-legal magazine published by the American Bar Foundation.

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We Want What's Ours: Learning From South Africa's Land Restitution Program (Oxford University Press), Bernadette Atuahene Dec 2013

We Want What's Ours: Learning From South Africa's Land Restitution Program (Oxford University Press), Bernadette Atuahene

Bernadette Atuahene

http://wewantwhatsours.com/
Millions of people all over the world have been displaced from their homes and property. Dispossessed individuals and communities often lose more than the physical structures they live in and their material belongings, they are also denied their dignity. These are dignity takings, and land dispossessions occurring in South Africa during colonialism and apartheid are quintessential examples. There have been numerous examples of dignity takings throughout the world, but South Africa stands apart because of its unique remedial efforts. The nation has attempted to move beyond the more common step of providing reparations (compensation for physical losses) to instead …

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Researching Law's Special Issue On "Property Rights And The Demands Of Transformation", Bernadette Atuahene Dec 2010

Researching Law's Special Issue On "Property Rights And The Demands Of Transformation", Bernadette Atuahene

Bernadette Atuahene

Researching Law is a socio-legal magazine published by the American Bar Foundation.

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Property And Transitional Justice, Bernadette Atuahene Dec 2009

Property And Transitional Justice, Bernadette Atuahene

Bernadette Atuahene

Transitional justice is the study of those mechanisms employed by communities, states and the international community to deal with a legacy of systematic human rights abuses and authoritarianism in order to promote social reconstruction. There is a well developed transitional justice literature on how states can deal with past violations of civil and political rights, which discusses the value of truth commissions, and international and domestic prosecutions. The transitional justice literature on how to deal with past violations of property rights, however, is significantly less developed. The goal of this essay is to begin an important conversation about how transitional …

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Property Rights & The Demands Of Transformation, Bernadette Atuahene Dec 2009

Property Rights & The Demands Of Transformation, Bernadette Atuahene

Bernadette Atuahene

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 …

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Things Fall Apart: The Illegitimacy Of Property Rights In The Context Of Past Theft, Bernadette Atuahene Dec 2008

Things Fall Apart: The Illegitimacy Of Property Rights In The Context Of Past Theft, Bernadette Atuahene

Bernadette Atuahene

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 …

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