Property Right Conflict and Contestation in Global South: A Case from Eritrea

Despite their longevity and direct impact on peasants, land conflicts in Eritrea remain neglected. By scrutinizing conflict cases reported to and deposited at Adiquala sub-region and by probing more through interviews, conducting focus group discussions, and selecting empirical conflict cases in Mailafo area, which registered 42.3% of the total cases, this study examines land conflicts and contestations. Close examination of the cases shed light that the peri-urban nature of the area and state’s weakness to implement the 1994 land proclamation, to distribute tiesa, and to prepare town master plan as the main causes. Moreover, beyond the need for economic/material motivation, the conflicts show that the society is a never-give -up litigant society and the state is weak. The recursive processes and/or dyadic relations brought various disputants and state institutions closer to everyday forms/practices of claims and counter-claims and everyday forms/practices of governance, which sheds more light on the nature of state–society relations in rural Eritrea.