Research-based Land Policies and Policy-based Research: Reflections on a World Bank Policy Research Report

Abstract

The 2003 World Bank Policy Research Report titled Land Policies for Growth and Poverty Reduction presents a diversified and—to some extent—revised neoliberal approach to land policies and property rights. This revision includes a modification of earlier World Bank perspectives on the privatisation of communal property rights as a general condition for economic growth and rural development. The report further provides broad perspectives and a fairly comprehensive overview of research-based knowledge in the field of land policies and property rights, complemented by lessons learned and experiences drawn from earlier—and partly failed—interventions. Thus it also makes a valuable contribution to current debates on the need for formal registration and titling in order to secure poor people's rights and access to livelihood resources. Conditions at national and local levels that are conducive to securing poor people's—including women's—rights and livelihoods are specifically addressed, while possible contradictions between equity and growth are not. Still, this text will no doubt become a standard reference in the field, and as such is indispensable reading.