Controlling land they call their own: access and women's empowerment in Northern Tanzania

Formal rights to land are often promoted as an essential part of empowering women, particularly in the Global South. We look at two grassroots non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working on land rights and empowerment with Maasai communities in Northern Tanzania. Women involved with both NGOS attest to the power of land ownership for personal empowerment and transformations in gender relations. Yet very few have obtained land ownership titles. Drawing from Ribot and Peluso's theory of access, we argue that more than ownership rights to land, access – to land, knowledge, social relations and political processes – is leading to empowerment for these women, as well as helping to keep land within communities. We illustrate how the following are key to both empowerment processes and protecting community and women's land: (1) access to knowledge about legal rights, such as the right to own land; (2) access to customary forms of authority; and (3) access to a joint social identity – as women, as ‘indigenous people’ and as ‘Maasai'. Through this shared identity and access to knowledge and authority, women are strengthening their access to social relations (amongst themselves, with powerful political players and NGOs), and gaining strength through collective action to protect land rights.     

The role of global cities in land grabs

Key trends link a globally connected urban archipelago and its hinterlands, warranting new studies of power in its most contemporary forms. This article locates land power and where that power is exercised – looking at the burgeoning global land rush from the perspective of cities. Urbanisation continues to drive vast political transitions, uprooting longstanding agrarian modes of living while creating myriad inequalities within cities. Are the world’s most powerful agglomerations active agents in this transformation? Answering affirmatively, the article reframes urbanisation as a vast, global geopolitical transfer of power from rural to urban. Leading global cities like New York, London, Hong Kong, Chicago and Singapore are not merely impressive collections of factor endowments. They are also sites of concentrated power with coercive influences beyond municipal boundaries. The article asks how cities project power in the contemporary global system. Juxtaposing data on global connectivity with the location strategies of private firms, we learn that the world’s most successful global cities are also sources of exploitative accumulations of land.     

Rural unions and the struggle for land in Brazil

Studies of Brazil's agricultural labor movement have generally neglected its relationship to the struggle for land, but this is neither fair nor accurate. Analyzing the rural labor movement's historical contributions to the land struggle in Brazil, this contribution has been organized into three main periods, emphasizing social relations, institutional activism and policy changes. It argues that despite the peculiarities of different historical contexts, rural labor consistently provoked protest against policies that privileged large landholders, whose concentration of power over land and labor resources continually worsened Brazil's ranking as one of the most unequal of nations. For more than half a century, the most constant opponent of this situation among the peasantry has been the National Confederation of Workers in Agriculture (CONTAG), a corporatist organization of rural labor unions founded in 1963.     

对土地私有化之批判——兼论农村土地的社会保障功能

土地是我国农民赖以生存的物质基础,但工业化、城市化进程的加快和土地市场的国家垄断,必然蚕食大批的土地,使广大农民的生存与发展受到严重威胁,而农民的生存与发展关系到国家长治久安.如何解决土地锐减和农民生存的矛盾,如何发挥农村土地的社会保障功能,已成为迫在眉睫的严峻问题.有人提出了土地私有化的观点.认为坚持土地承包责任制,坚持最严格的土地管理制度,在此基础上实现土地流转的法律创新,是唯一符合现实需要的理性选择.     

小农经济的特质及我国农地关系法制化的基本方向

在我国农地制度的变迁中,中国共产党始终把农地关系法制化放在调整社会经济关系、促进中国社会进步的重要地位.我国现行农地集体所有,家庭经营的农地制度仍具备小农经济的特质.通观世界,小农经济在欧美较早得到改造,在西方社会改造小农经济的现代化过程中,法制化成为农地制度变迁的最直接最明显的推动力量.我国农地法制化的基本方向是落实科学发展观,进一步完善现行农地法规;保障农地资源与农民的安全,明确界定农地的权利主体.     

论国有土地使用权的性质

以出让方式取得的国有土地使用权制度是我国重要的土地使用制度,国有土地使用权也是物权法要规定的重要内容之一.正确地认识并确定国有土地使用权的性质是必要的,应该充分地认识到:在我国现行的土地制度中,以出让方式获得的国有土地使用权是惟一可自由交易的土地使用权,在我国土地公有制的条件下, 一般公民与法人享有的是近似于所有权的土地使用权,在民法上土地使用权起着所有权的功能,土地使用权才是我国不动产的"自物权",土地使用权是不动产市场的基础.     

有关农村土地承包经营权两个争议问题的比较分析

在"依法治国"及发展市场经济的时代背景下,重新审视承包制下的承包经营权,并进行制度的重新设计,是我国土地制度改革中的一个重要课题.本文以现行人大法工委物权法第二次审议稿为视角,结合历史和现实的考察,对有关农村土地承包经营权的两个争议问题进行了比较分析,得出了两个相关的结论.     

农村承包地三权分置制度入典研究

《农村土地承包法修正案》将“三权分置”政策内容上升为法律规定,确立承包地三权分置制度。对解决承包地流转闭锁抵押难行等问题意义重大。却因将承包经营权本集体经济组织内封闭流转以法律固化,新设土地经营权性质不清、类型混合、流转不济,无益承包地债权性与物权性并可市场化开放性流转之“三权分置”目标实现。受其影响,《民法典分编(草案)》亦存同样问题。亟待农村承包地三权分置制度进一步入典完善。在实地调研基础上,遵循《民法总则》落实集体土地所有权前提下,于《民法典分编(草案)》完善中,基于英美地产权客体权益分离理论与大陆法系二次权能分离理论具兼创债权性与物权性经营权功能的地权二次分离理论,在保持土地承包经营权规定不变上,从其客体权益中分离出二元化土地经营权,并分别于合同编增设农地租赁经营合同具体规范债权性经营权、于物权编构造“农用地使用权”科学规范物权性经营权。以利能以债权性经营权顺农地灵活经营实践、物权性经营权应农地抵押及长期经营所需的二元化路径,促现行承包经营权本集体经济组织内封闭流转向派生出的土地经营权市场化开放性流转发展,以实现农村承包地三权分置制度入典达成“三权分置”、“放活土地经营权”之政策目标。     

乡村振兴制度建设的内涵及路径探讨

乡村振兴要以制度建设为基础,以完善农地"三权分置"制度为契机,以城乡融合体制机制创新为支撑,以"活业、活人、活村"为路径。土地制度是实现乡村振兴的根本制度,三权分置是搞活乡村经济的制度设计,乡村治理是实现乡村振兴战略的总抓手。乡村振兴制度建设存在的主要问题是:"城乡二元结构"是农民获取城市权利的障碍,土地"二元制度"是导致乡村失去发展权的根源,农村"宅基地制度"是制约农民发展权的瓶颈。乡村振兴制度建设的基本路径是:为乡村振兴建设提供规划安排,为乡村振兴用地提供制度支撑,为乡村振兴资金提供政府投入保障,为乡村振兴社会稳定提供安全秩序。     

Small farms,smaller plots: land size,fragmentation, and productivity in Ethiopia

African agriculture is often dominated by smallholder farms composed of multiple plots. In policy circles it is often assumed that fragmentation coupled with small farm size is an impediment to increasing yields and thus decreasing poverty and food insecurity. There also exists an influential literature that explores the inverse relationship between farm size and yield. While there are many studies internationally, few have been conducted in Africa. Using an Ethiopian national survey, we explore the relationship between yield, farm size and fragmentation. We find an inverse relationship between farm size and yield, and a positive association between yield and land fragmentation.