Land Tenure Reform and the Balance of Power in Eastern and Southern Africa

June 2000
Liz Alden Wily (ODI Natural Resource Perspectives 58)

Examines the current wave of land tenure reform in Eastern and Southern Africa. Discusses how far tenure reform reflects a shift in powers over property from centre to periphery. A central question is whether tenure reform is designed to deliver to rural smallholders greater security of tenure and greater control over the regulation and transfer of these rights.