Land Reforms Revisited: An Emerging Perspective on the Hellenic Land Administration Reform as a Wicked Policy Problem

This paper explores the complex nature of land reforms, arguing that they should be considered wicked policy problems by focusing on the Hellenic Land Administration Reform (HLAR). The article reflects on recent contributions that argue that the HLAR’s challenges are associated with the great leap forward shift from a French-influenced deed paper-based system to a German-influenced digital cadastral parcel-based system. Another recent study contended that the legislative overregulation during the sovereign crisis period in the organizations of the diverse land registry systems of the land administration policy domain further complexified the reform process. A lack of consensus on the reform’s main policy thrust and the means to achieve it was present both at the onset of the reform and during the economic crisis period, among the actors in the reform process. This paper contributes to the contemporary scholarly literature on land administration, integrating recent empirical contributions that point toward the wicked nature of land administration reforms.