Introduction

People are attached to land in a variety of ways: spiritual, economic, political. Land provides the individual with a shelter, a home, a source of subsistence and security. It is also a public good, forming an indispensable component of culture and life. Land is therefore a powerful tool in pursuing political goals. Hardly an international conflict exists which does not have a territorial dimension.

Illegal regimes characteristically change land ownership patterns in the territory under their control. This change serves both to undermine existing power structures that may challenge the regime, and to strengthen power structures that benefit it, such as its military forces, its civilian settler population and local sycophants. Land holds political promise also for post-transition regimes. Large-scale adjustments of land rights have therefore been a prominent feature of many post-conflict situations.

Illegal regimes are not unique in manipulating land rights to pursue political goals. Involvement in land distribution is particularly characteristic of governments driven by ideologies that are inconsonant with liberal perceptions of the right to property, such as colonialism, racism and communism; but which are not, or originally were not, illegal themselves. In southern Africa, deprivation of inhabitants of their land long preceded the illegal regimes. Similarly, the denial of private ownership under communist rule was not reserved to the Baltic states, but extended throughout the east European bloc.