Current Scottish Land Reform and Reclaiming the Commons: Building Community Resilience

Mike Danson,Kathryn A Burnett

doi:10.1177/14649934211018393

Abstract

Scotland has been addressing the highest European concentrations of land ownership through land reform legislation, encouraging communities to buy out the lairds. Collective efforts to take ownership of the commons are explored through application of theories on governance, regional development and institutions. Experiences of Inner and Outer Hebridean islanders under private and then community ownership, paying special attention to the case of the Isle of Eigg, are considered. Their collective tenacity, flexibility and confidence in securing a community future despite continuing challenges to remote small island living are offered as keystone examples from Scotland of small island enterprise, social development and collective community actions.

Highlights

While much attention in analyses of wealth inequalities and inequities focuses on property and share ownership, the ownership of land itself remains important
Concerns over the impacts of enacting the right to buy traditional land for the institutions of property rights and governance (Otsuki et al, 2017; Pedersen, 2016) have been examined in different contexts, including specific cases of the ‘tragedy of the grabbed commons’ (Dell’Angelo et al, 2017). While these reforms and conflicts are often discussed with regard to developing countries, there are important debates and useful analyses to be undertaken in the developed economies of Europe, Australasia and North America, not least by way of an appreciation of the integrative context of property ownership globally and in terms of the capacity for landed commons to be realized locally
Land reform in Scotland since 1990 has not followed the developments projected by the forces of neoliberalism (Bernstein, 2002), on the one hand, nor those generated by the breaking up of large estates whether privately owned (Hartvigsen, 2013) or state owned (Swinnen, 2002)

Summary

Introduction

While much attention in analyses of wealth inequalities and inequities focuses on property and share ownership, the ownership of land itself remains important. Concerns over the impacts of enacting the right to buy traditional land for the institutions of property rights and governance (Otsuki et al, 2017; Pedersen, 2016) have been examined in different contexts, including specific cases of the ‘tragedy of the grabbed commons’ (Dell’Angelo et al, 2017) While these reforms and conflicts are often discussed with regard to developing countries (more broadly), there are important debates and useful analyses to be undertaken in the developed economies of Europe, Australasia and North America, not least by way of an appreciation of the integrative context of property ownership globally and in terms of the capacity for landed commons to be realized locally

Objectives

Findings

Discussion

Conclusion