Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Contributors
- Preface
- Explaining Institutional Change
- 1 A Theory of Gradual Institutional Change
- 2 Infiltrating the State: The Evolution of Health Care Reforms in Brazil, 1964–1988
- 3 The Contradictory Potential of Institutions: The Rise and Decline of Land Documentation in Kenya
- 4 Policymaking as Political Constraint: Institutional Development in the U.S. Social Security Program
- 5 Altering Authoritarianism: Institutional Complexity and Autocratic Agency in Indonesia
- 6 Rethinking Rules: Creativity and Constraint in the U.S. House of Representatives
- 7 Historical Institutionalism in Rationalist and Sociological Perspective
- Index
- References
3 - The Contradictory Potential of Institutions: The Rise and Decline of Land Documentation in Kenya
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Contributors
- Preface
- Explaining Institutional Change
- 1 A Theory of Gradual Institutional Change
- 2 Infiltrating the State: The Evolution of Health Care Reforms in Brazil, 1964–1988
- 3 The Contradictory Potential of Institutions: The Rise and Decline of Land Documentation in Kenya
- 4 Policymaking as Political Constraint: Institutional Development in the U.S. Social Security Program
- 5 Altering Authoritarianism: Institutional Complexity and Autocratic Agency in Indonesia
- 6 Rethinking Rules: Creativity and Constraint in the U.S. House of Representatives
- 7 Historical Institutionalism in Rationalist and Sociological Perspective
- Index
- References
Summary
I wanted a [land] document because it is like a marriage certificate for a woman. It gives you [the husband] confidence that no one will ever bother you.
An old farmer in Taita Taveta, Kenya, in a 2005 interview with author[Land titles] are mere pieces of paper.
William ole Ntimama, minister of local government, Kenya, “The Indigenous and the Natives,” Weekly Review (Nairobi), July 9, 1993.Introduction
The gradual decline of institutions that secure property rights presents us with an interesting puzzle. These institutions have a number of features that should display positive-feedback effects and ensure their continued strength. Land documentation systems, which constitute key components of these institutions, can aid informed and well-connected members of society in acquiring swathes of land, giving these actors an incentive to perpetuate such documentation systems (Scott 1998, 48). Further, because titles and other forms of land documents and records can help them hold onto their property, we can expect landowners to invest in ensuring the efficacious operation of these systems. Beyond helping resolve issues of ownership, record systems create incentives for their perpetuation by facilitating the productive use of land and the transformation of land rights into capital (de Soto 2000). People involved in these modes of using land thus have an interest in upholding effective record systems. Also, by rendering such exploitation of land more profitable, these institutional arrangements draw new actors to these land uses and so increase the pool of those dedicated to institutional stability.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Explaining Institutional ChangeAmbiguity, Agency, and Power, pp. 63 - 93Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009
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