Property Right Conflict and Contestation in Global South: A Case from Eritrea

Despite their longevity and direct impact on peasants, land conflicts in Eritrea remain neglected. By scrutinizing conflict cases reported to and deposited at Adiquala sub-region and by probing more through interviews, conducting focus group discussions, and selecting empirical conflict cases in Mailafo area, which registered 42.3% of the total cases, this study examines land conflicts and contestations. Close examination of the cases shed light that the peri-urban nature of the area and state’s weakness to implement the 1994 land proclamation, to distribute tiesa , and to prepare town master plan as the main causes. Moreover, beyond the need for economic/material motivation, the conflicts show that the society is a never-give - up litigant society and the state is weak. The recursive processes and/or dyadic relations brought various disputants and state institutions closer to everyday forms/practices of claims and counter-claims and everyday forms/practices of governance, which sheds more light on the nature of state–society relations in rural Eritrea.