The Promise and Perils of Urban Land Restitution in Latvia

Bibliographic Data

ID12915438
AuthorsJamie Rowen (University of Massachusetts Amherst, corresponding author), Arta Snipe (0000-0003-1136-1592, University of Latvia)
Year2020
Volume15
Issue1
Pages47-65
Publication date2020-11-19
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Transitional Justice (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1752-7716 • E-ISSN: 1752-7724
PublisherOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1093/ijtj/ijaa028
OpenAlexW3163471615
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited3

∞ In this article we address the transitional justice policy of restitution in kind with a case study of urban land reform in Latvia. Contributing to scholarship on the challenge of property reforms after generations of dispossession, we examine the economic, social and political meanings of property restitution in this post-Soviet context. Using process-tracing techniques to examine the creation and implementation of Latvia’s policy in the aftermath of independence from the Soviet Union, we illustrate specific challenges of restitution in kind where property changed through the construction of new buildings occupied by tenants. Financial disputes between landowners and tenants map on to ethnic and political divisions in Latvia, and a policy once seen as a remedy is now in need of a remedy

Context (archaeology · Ethnic group · Geography · Independence (probability theory · Land reform · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Property (philosophy · Property rights · Restitution · Scholarship · Sociology · Land Rights and Reforms · Post-Communist Economic and Political Transition · Urbanization and City Planning · Law

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