The objective of this background paper is to provide a succinct description of the land tenure situation in Cambodia and, on that basis, discuss the needs smallholder farmers have for land, projected up to the year 2030.

In this chapter, I adapt the game approach to examine the differences and conformities between formal legal laws and under-law regulations of the party-state institutions and the real practices of the Red river delta villagers on the holding and use of agricultural land. More specifically, this chapter emphasizes official norms, in this case the study of agricultural land claims regarded as formal legal laws and under-law regulations of the party-state institutions.

Đổi Mới, the name given to the economic reforms initiated in 1986 in Vietnam, has renewed the party-state’s ambitious scheme of industrialization and has intensified the process of urbanization in Vietnam. A large area of land has been converted for these purposes, with various effects on both the state and society. This article sheds light on how land conversion has resulted in farmers’ resistance and in what way and to what extent it has transformed their livelihoods in the transitional context of contemporary Vietnam.

"The hour of capitalism's greatest triumph," writes Hernando de Soto, "is, in the eyes of four-fifths of humanity, its hour of crisis." In The Mystery of Capital, the world-famous Peruvian economist takes up the question that, more than any other, is central to one of the most crucial problems the world faces today: Why do some countries succeed at capitalism while others fail? In strong opposition to the popular view that success is determined by cultural differences, de Soto finds that it actually has everything to do with the legal structure of property and property rights.

In this classic work of economic history and social theory, Karl Polanyi analyzes the economic and social changes brought about by the "great transformation" of the Industrial Revolution. His analysis explains not only the deficiencies of the self-regulating market, but the potentially dire social consequences of untempered market capitalism. New introductory material reveals the renewed importance of Polanyi's seminal analysis in an era of globalization and free trade.

Collective actions groups have many advantages and are sometimes essential, yet they can reinforce or perpetuate inter-and intra-gender inequalities when their functioning is left entirely subject to internal community dynamics and they are not well managed. This is well illustrated by the case of Koussin-Lélé rice scheme in the central Benin.

In recent years, infrastructure investments, especially construction of new roads and upgrading of existing ones, have accelerated in Turkey. Expropriation cases related to building plot and land have increased due to these investments. One subject causes conflict and leads to the prolongation of cases due to the misuse of building plot-land discrimination.

The condition of the market for of lands of agricultural purpose in modern Russia is analyzed and the complex of actions for economic prerequisites creation for activization of farm land rotation is offered. The state has to undertake urgently measures to increase the control not only over intended use of lands and their involvement in an agricultural rotation, but also over agriculture rationality. The international experience shows the active usage of land resources as pledge. Removal of obstacles of pledge transactions development is also needed in Russia.

The work has as objective to investigate, using data published by the Institute for Colonization and Land Reform (INCRA), the changes in land distribution in the North and Northwest regions of the Rio de Janeiro state, in the period from 1972 to 1998. The Gini index, the average area, the percentage of the area corresponding to the 5% largest landholders, and the percentage of the area corresponding to the 50% smallest landholders, were used to describe the profile of the land distribution. The results show significant differences between the studied regions.

Chiefly an agricultural society, India has a strong linkage between land and social status of an individual. Nearly 70 % of its population dependent on land, either as farmers or farm laborers and it is imperative to address the issues of land ensuring livelihood, dignity and food security to millions of Indians. Land reform was a major policy initiative in the country in 1950s and early 1960s.

This study on farmers’ suicides is done by Indo-Global Social Service Society (IGSSS) through its local partner the Baitarani Initiative. This study was attempted to understand if farmers’ suicides were just a desperate reaction to events like droughts and crop loss or there were more fundamental roots.

Land policies are of fundamental importance to sustainable growth, good governance, and the well-being of, and the economic opportunities open to, both rural and urban dwellers - particularly the poor. To this end, research on land policy, and analysis of interventions related to the subject, have long been of interest to the Bank's Research Department, and other academic, and civil society institutions.