Research on the Manifestation and Formation Mechanism of New Characteristics of Land Disputes: Evidence from the Yangtze River Economic Belt, China

Abstract

Land disputes have significantly disrupted legal order, production, and social harmony, and has been regarded as a quintessential challenge in public governance, attracting worldwide attentions from scholars. As an emblematic feature of China’s latest reform and opening-up strategy, the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) in China has experienced rapid development after entering the new era (2012–2021) alongside substantial risks and challenges, particularly regarding land disputes. Better understanding of the manifestation and formation mechanism of new characteristics of land disputes is beneficial for contemporary public governance and for achieving a high-quality development of the YREB, whose Gross Domestic Product (GDP) accounted for 46.3% of the national GDP in 2023. A total of 325,105 land dispute cases in 11 provinces or municipalities of the YREB from 2012 to 2021 were collected and analyzed. On this basis, an evaluation index system of the new characteristics of land disputes, named the overall land dispute (OLD) index, was constructed according to measurement theory by coupling the interactions of quantity, claim amounts, duration periods, and the appeal rate of land dispute. Then, the OLD index was evaluated by descriptive statistical methods, a geographic information system (GIS) spatial analysis, a center of gravity model, kernel density estimation, and Theil index methods, to reveal the new characteristics and formation mechanisms of land disputes in the YREB from 2012 to 2021. The results indicated that: (1) The OLD index exhibited a trend of an initial increase followed by a decline, indicating that land disputes in the YREB showed signs of alleviation. (2) The government’s capacity for resolving land disputes was significantly improved, as evidenced by the decline in the OLD index from 0.59 in 2018 to 0.51 in 2021. This improvement could be attributed to the effectiveness of enhanced governmental working mechanisms, regulatory standards, and the integration of digital technologies. (3) The analysis of the center of gravity model indicated that the focus of land disputes shifted westward, propelled by national policy support for upstream regions of the YREB and the need for land ecological protection. (4) The analysis of kernel density estimation indicated that regional disparities in land disputes within the YREB had declined, driven by a positive trend toward balanced regional development and rural governance. This study provides scientific insights into the new characteristics of land disputes in the YREB and guidance for policy decision making on effective land dispute management.