ABSTRACT
This chapter reflects on the book’s main findings. First, it shows how the Land Tenure System Analysis Model goes beyond the classic ‘law on the books and law in practice’ approach, providing a broader picture of what influences the design and work of a formal land tenure system. Second, this chapter debates the lessons that can be drawn from the Timorese case for other developing countries dealing with similar post-colonial, post-conflict, post-authoritarian problems and development issues. The development of the Timorese formal land tenure system since independence has been a slow and difficult process. Despite some progress, uncertainty, arbitrariness, and the risk of dispossession are still strong markers of the Timorese formal system. The chapter highlights the importance of adequately regulating administrative processes, designing them in line with the needs of the people and in cooperation with existing local systems, and paying adequate attention to the human side of state institutions. It also shows that better laws can help to address land-related problems, but require adequate attention to the law-making process. Finally, the chapter argues that, first and foremost, land administration is a political matter, and the formal system is a political instrument. Innovative approaches to land administration are not enough to promote fairer formal systems; states need to get their ideology right. But this endeavour is not just the task of politicians, but also of state officials, practitioners, academics, and the general population, who, through their actions and inactions, are also doing politics.
