ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that, if a reform corresponds to people's demand for land dispute settlement services at the local level, as is the implicit ambition of most new-wave land reforms, competition may not be the best lens through which the reform should be analysed. It focuses on the topic of land dispute settlement, which is often overshadowed by the land titling debate. The chapter combines a literature review of new-wave land reform experiences with ten months of fieldwork, carried out as comparative case studies of reform implementation in two villages in the northeastern part of mainland Tanzania in 2009–2012. One village in Handeni District and one in Kiteto District were chosen. The two cases thus also represent two different types of intervention: an NGO-driven, rights-based approach, and state-backed intervention aimed at titling. Tanzania's reform provided a new, decentralized land court system, which, when implemented, strengthened the more formal land dispute settlement institutions operating with the backing of the state.
