ABSTRACT
This chapter provides the theoretical background on which the rest of the book is developed. Concepts such as land tenure and land tenure systems are used in the literature with very different, and sometimes even contradictory, meanings. To address this issue, the first part of the chapter defines the main concepts used throughout the book. Based on a literature review and using examples from various countries, the second part of the chapter analyses the different roles that formal land tenure systems play in society, and the problems and dilemmas that states experience in their implementation. The chapter concludes that the development and territorialisation of formal land tenure systems can help to address—but can also cause or aggravate—insecurity, poverty, inequality, destruction of nature, and cultural and social estrangement. While formal land tenure systems are presented by politicians and state officials as a mechanism to improve people’s living conditions, ideological, conceptual, practical problems, and unexpected side effects can bring more harm than good to large groups of people. The wicked nature of land-related problems, and the less than ideal conditions in which decisions about formal systems are taken, make the development and management of a formal land tenure system an extremely complex task, leaving politicians and state officials with many dilemmas and trade-offs between imperfect outcomes. Put simply, land administration is difficult even for the most well-intentioned and prepared politicians and state officials.
