Empowering the poor or protecting the powerful? Externally induced reforms and agency of local actors. A case-study on land dynamics in Rwanda and Burundi.

Using land dynamics as its prism, this research project aims to understand 1) how opportunity structures - defined by norms, institutions, actors and implementation processes at the local, national and international level - interact with localized life-worlds and the agency of local actors; 2) how externally induced reforms may impact upon this interaction. Two case study countries will be considered: Rwanda and Burundi. The project adopts an actor-oriented perspective that aims to capture the complex interactions between human agency and the local institutional environment. It will use a combination of three disciplinary approaches: development anthropology, development economics, and law and development. The three components will be strongly linked and will fit into an overarching interdisciplinary methodology.

Keywords:ANTHROPOLOGY, LAW AND DEVELOPMENT, DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS

Disciplines:Economic development, innovation, technological change and growth, Applied sociology