Allocating Land Rights to Individuals as a Path to Development? The Case of Vietnam

en ligne : https://www.conftool.com/landandpoverty2014/index.php?page=browseSessions&print=yes&form_session=105&metadata=show&presentations=showEfforts to open up the Vietnamese economy began in 1986, leading to a complete reorganisation of national land institutions and the paradoxical decision to maintain the socialist paradigm of "entire people property of the land" while allocating land use rights to individuals. Over time, land controls were progressively eased in order to accommodate (and legalise) grassroots practices, with more users and sub-rights and fewer limitations. Twenty-five years on, the land system now seems to operate in much the same way as an individual private ownership regime, and the authorities in Hanoi face a growing number of land disputes. This paper aims to analyse the efficiency of the land formalisation system in terms of socio-economic development. It shows that social acceptance of the system declined as the government moved from a rural and agricultural development model to a more urban and industrial one; that a single form of land access cannot satisfy (or secure) all users; and that even marginal groups can weaken state legitimacy. This raises questions about the need for all formalisation systems to be designed in accordance with development policies that reflect the population's expectations and take account of its cultural and socio-economic diversity