FOL · Fighting Over Land: Theory and Empirical Evidence from Colombia

Fighting Over Land: Theory and Empirical Evidence from Colombia

Most internal armed conflicts have taken place in agrarian developing economies, where land is one of the most valuable rural assets. In this context, even if these conflicts are borne out of grievances, rebel groups in long civil conflict may eventually fight for greed, where illegal appropriation of assets and resources turn into a common practice. In fact, land appropriation becomes an important source of power and territorial domination for armed actors, boosting inequality and inefficiency in land market transactions. Surprisingly, whereas unequal land tenure schemes have received ample academic interest as initial motivations and intensifying factors in armed conflict, very little is known about the mechanisms and impact that armed conflict may have over land tenure structures in the long run. This lack of empirical and theoretical evidence largely stems from the fact that conflict-affected countries often do not have a land tenure registry. The aim of this project is to develop a research agenda on the long-term effect of civil conflict on institutions, particularly on land tenure structure. Dr Muñoz-Mora will develop a theoretical model on the ongoing civil conflict and asset appropriation, through which he can derive a set of hypotheses that can be tested using a unique dataset from Antioquia, a western-Colombia region. The empirical data consists of unique plot-level census data from different moments in time (i.e. 1955, 1995, 2000, 2006), which coincides with the main turning points in the Colombian conflict. Accordingly, this project will assess four key issues: • Which motivations could explain the behaviour of armed actors to fight over land? • Which characteristics make a given land area more likely to be under dispute? • Which type of distortions to the land tenure structure can be attributed to conflict in Antioquia-Colombia? • What is the effect of the length of exposure to violence on land markets?

Data: CORDIS, © European Union