Legal, Institutional, and Governance Challenges Facing Land Use in MENA Countries

Abstract

No AccessFeb 2023Legal, Institutional, and Governance Challenges Facing Land Use in MENA CountriesAuthors/Editors: Anna Corsi and Harris SelodAnna CorsiSearch for more papers by this author and Harris SelodSearch for more papers by this authorhttps://doi.org/10.1596/978-1-4648-1661-1_ch2AboutView ChaptersFull TextPDF (0.9 MB) ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareFacebookTwitterLinked In Abstract: Describes the current institutional and legal contexts in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) governing land issues, highlighting how they have taken shape historically, and presenting the key regional land governance and land administration challenges. Major challenges common to MENA countries that weaken land governance, resulting in inefficient and opaque land administration and management, include (1) complex, outdated legal frameworks; (2) institutional fragmentation with overlapping mandates; (3) disproportionate involvement of the state in the sector; and (4) weakness of property taxation. These challenges have historical roots and reflect current political economy constraints preventing or slowing reforms. Generally, the quality of land administration services proves greater in wealthier and smaller countries, possibly due to higher capacity or a limited number of transactions exerting less pressure on land administration systems. Low levels of geographic coverage, in combination with lack of publicly available information and poor reliability of infrastructure, have likely contributed to a significant number of land-related disputes. 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