Systems approach to pro-poor land reforms: A concept paper

There has been renewed interest in the academic discourse on land reforms due to recent high profile works suggesting a positive correlation between reforms and poverty reduction. Land is held under different tenure regimes in different regions, countries and communities. These are often in the form of community tenure, state tenure, individual tenure or a mixture of two or three of them. However, land reformers are in constant debate as to which of the three offers the most appropriate pathway to poverty reduction. The policy outcomes of such debates have been to superimpose one tenure option over the other in differing situations. This article conceptualises a metaphorical approach to land reforms grounded on general systems theory. It advocates for contextualised methodological rigour and an approach to land reforms reliant on the influencing variables of alternative land tenure regimes as opposed to wanton superimposition of one form of tenure over the other.