Revisiting (neo)liberalism in land policy: Trends in property rights regimes across Europe

Property rights regimes play an important role in shaping land policy and planning policy. This paper presents the findings of comparative research on property rights regimes across Europe. Based on the survey responses of experts from 24 countries, the analysis offers a deeper understanding of various property rights regimes, and their evolution during the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The paper analyses property rights regimes in various socio-economic, political and historical contexts and explores the foundational philosophical understanding of property rights in a range of countries. It highlights the diversity of approaches employed in the protection and regulation of property rights and unveils the libertarian character of the changes which occurred in liberal Western European regimes from the 1980s onward, as well as the libertarian foundations of the post-communist regimes put in place in Central and Eastern Europe after 1989. The paper therefore highlights how so-called ‘neoliberal’ approaches to land policy and planning policy, reflect a turn towards a libertarian understanding of property rights. The hope is that this understanding of the philosophical underpinnings of property rights regimes across Europe could facilitate a more informed debate around contemporary land policy and planning policy. • Property Rights vary among European countries according political and legal dynamics. • An expert survey provides an understanding of property rights in 24 European countries. • Private property rights have been reinforced in many European countries. • Libertarian ideologies influence property rights evolution in European countries. • Property rights framing offers opportunities for land policy and development.