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Abstract
There is a growing academic literature on both land and corruption in relation to post-conflict peace building. This paper aims to understand what role corruption complaints play in the nexus between land and grievances in post-conflict societies. Drawing on field material collected in Sri Lanka, the paper interrogates the role of corruption complaints in relation to a number of highly politicised and ethnicised post-conflict land issues, ranging from the return of idps and alleged new resettlement schemes to land grabbing for military, ‘development’ and/or commercial purposes. The comparatively high visibility of land use, and the fact that land-related corruption is likely to affect a specific set of people who lay claim to the land, makes it a particularly important area to address in research on corruption and post-conflict peace building.
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida) for providing the necessary funding for this research. We also want to thank two anonymous reviewers and the participants of the Gothenburg workshop for critical and constructive comments on earlier drafts of this paper.
Notes
1. For example, Pons-Vignon and Solignac Lecomte, Land, Violent Conflict and Development; Hintjens, “Land Reform, Social Justice, and Reconstruction”; Pritchard, “Land, Power and Peace”; and Unruh and Williams, “Land.”
2. For example, ti, Corruption in the Land Sector; Boone, “Politically Allocated Land Rights”; Wren-Lewis, Corruption in Land Administration; and Papi´c Brankov and Tanjevi´c, “Corruption in the Land Sector.”
3. For example, Herath, “Social Reconciliation”; and Cheng and Zaum, “Selling the Peace?”
4. Korf and Lavadenz, Land and Conflict.
5. For example, Fonseka and Raheem, Land in the Eastern Province; Fonseka and Raheem, Land in the Northern Province; icg, Sri Lanka’s North II; and icg, Sri Lanka’s Authoritarian Turn.
6. Rothstein, this issue.
7. Persson et al., “Why Anticorruption Reforms Fail.”
8. Ibid., 455.
9. Cheng and Zaum, “Selling the Peace?”
10. Lindberg and Orjuela, “Corruption and Conflict.”
11. Cf. Borras and Franco, “Contemporary Discourses and Contestations.”
12. Wrong, It’s Our Turn to Eat.
13. Unruh and Williams, Land and Post-conflict Peace Building.
14. Unruh and Williams, “Land,” 7–8.
15. Ibid.
16. ti, Corruption in the Land Sector.
17. Pons-Vignon and Solignac Lecomte, Land, Violent Conflict and Development.
18. Boone, “Politically Allocated Land Rights.”
19. Wren-Lewis, Corruption in Land Administration.
20. Ibid., 3.
21. In 1990 the ltte ordered the Muslims in the north to vacate their houses in 48 hours. Most Muslims fled to Puttalam in the Northwestern Province.
22. Uyangoda, “A State of Desire?”
23. Spencer, Sri Lanka.
24. Höglund and Orjuela, “Winning the Peace.”
25. Herath, “Social Reconciliation.”
26. Mampilly, “The Nexus of Militarisation and Corruption.”
27. Herath, “Social Reconciliation.”
28. The districts in which interviews were conducted are Jaffna, Mannar, Polonnaruwa, Batticaloa, Ampara, Colombo and Hambantota.
29. Fonseka and Raheem, Land in the Northern Province.
30. Fonseka and Raheem, Land in the Eastern Province.
31. icg, Sri Lanka’s North II; and icg, Sri Lanka’s Authoritarian Turn.
32. Fonseka and Raheem, Land in the Northern Province, 100.
33. The Mahaweli Authority is the government institution responsible for administration of areas falling under the Mahaweli Development Program, which is one of the largest development and colonisation schemes in Sri Lanka. Samurdhi is the government poverty alleviation scheme.
34. Tamil man.
35. Muslim man.
36. Tamil woman.
37. Muslim man.
38. Sinhalese woman.
39. Tamil man.
40. Fonseka and Raheem, Land in the Northern Province, 179.
41. Tamil woman.
42. Tamil man.
43. icg, Sri Lanka’s Authoritarian Turn, 19.
44. See icg, Sri Lanka’s North II.
45. See icg, Sri Lanka’s Authoritarian Turn.
46. icg, Sri Lanka’s Authoritarian Turn.
47. Pons-Vignon and Solignac Lecomte, Land, Violent Conflict and Development.
48. Fonseka and Raheem, Land in the Eastern Province, 21.