Accommodations
The case studies discussed so far involve denunciation and confrontation , whether based on official rhetoric or circulating underground . The implementation of land policies , however , usually leads to less antagonistic relations , using “ practices of compromise and collusion to fill the gap between project plans and onthe-ground realities ” ( Li , 2005 , p . 391 ). Land policies often appear too restrictive to villagers as well as to state officers , who substitute more pragmatic arrangements for them . Such arrangements often do not abide by land regulations , but they respect some formal aspects attached to them .
Such accommodations were observed in Thongnamy . The rapid influx of migrants stimulated the need to find new lands to cultivate . However , residents of neighbouring “ old ” villages like Na Bouay and Nam Khou were not eager to provide “ their ” land rights for free to these new settlers — even if , in theory , land in Laos belongs to no one but the state .
A pragmatic system emerged in which the district employees became middlemen between the former inhabitants and the migrants . The old inhabitants registered unused plots of land on their village territory through temporary land-use certificates ; they then sold the certificates to the migrants , with district land officers “ legalizing ”
World Food Policy
10 The land-use certificates , valid in theory for three years , must be distinguished from ( full ) land titles . The former are mostly used in the countryside , while the latter are mostly restricted to urban and suburban areas . Only the latter can be sold ( Evrard , 2004 ; Prime Minister ’ s Office , 2008 , art . 3 and 16 ).
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this illegal 10 sale and taking their share in the process through an alleged “ tax ” on the procedure . The name of the former land user was replaced on the certificate by the name of the new one ( the migrant ). With this validation , the latter was assured of his right to cultivate peacefully .
Such arrangements were not really legal , but were still framed as if they were official . This sort of exchange has given rise to neologisms and euphemisms , like referring to the “ changing names ” procedure ; in hiding the commoditization of land , people did not say that plots were sold or bought , but claimed that they were “ exchanged for a motorbike ” or other assets .
Another related accommodation involved legalizing illegal acquisitions through a regime of fines . When the pressure on land was high in Thongnamy , some people cleared plots in protected forests . Paradoxically , when they were found guilty and fined by the village authorities , the perpetrators then felt endowed with rights to their previously illegal lands after paying the fine .
Such practices showcase how the land regulation system is vernacularized . Accommodations take place through ( relative ) consensus and with an eye to meeting the demands and needs of various stakeholders . This goes together with a strong will to ( arguably ) respect the rules , explaining why people