When, where, and how can land governance overcome path dependency? A trajectory of land governance change

Abstract

Land governance deals with the intersections of policies, processes, and institutions on access, use, and interest in land and its resources. Path dependence on land governance can lead to unsustainable land control, shaping people’s livelihoods and well-being. Agency in land governance is well explored. The link between actors, their aims, and their agencies for transformative action has been established. However, these concepts have not sufficiently explained why land governance change can happen. Why certain governance is preferred over others is still open for interpretation. To address this gap, we incorporate insights from the social-ecological systems (SES) and socio-technical systems (STS) studies and add timing and strategic structures in analyzing the transformation process in land governance literature to build a trajectory of land governance changes that indicate ways out of the path dependency in land governance. The trajectory has scholarly novelty in adding ‘where’ (leverage points) and ‘when’ (triggers) to the existing strategic aspects of ‘who’ (actors) and ‘how’ (agency), and linking the four to indicate ways out of the path dependency. The agency of change in land governance emerges only when certain triggers destabilize incumbent land governance. Agencies and leverages are interrelated. Failure to gather momentum leads to inefficient utilization of design leverage, dropping key actors into a barrier of change, wasting the open moment, and missing the opportunity for change.