Settlement of Property Claims in Former East Germany

Blacksell, Mark; Born, Karl Martin; Bohlander, Michael

doi:10.2307/215956

Cited by 9 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…N1: Restitution is the process of returning land ownership to an original owner. According to Blacksell et al (1996), a complication for the restitution process was that a number of land registers had been destroyed during the 'Socialist Occupation Zone (SOZ) period' and the GDR regime neglected to maintain up-to-date land records. The point hereby was not to neglect land administration as such, but to avoid maintaining a land administration system, which would legitimize the perceived bourgeois concept of private property in the East German state apparatus.…”

Section: Signification Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

“…N5: The impulsive movement for socio-economic transformation in Germany occurred in the move towards German (re-)unification, transplanting existing social, economic, administrative, and legal infrastructure from West Germany to the GDR. This is characteristic of OCOS examples, where the 'durable intellectual import' relates to the restructuring of 'ownership of land' and the 'role of the state' (Blacksell et al 1996). For instance, former GDR states were affiliated with their respective West German counterparts in supporting re-structuring state administration services in the early 1990s (Wolz 2012).…”

Section: Signification Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

“…A6: A joint declaration effective on 15 June 1990 contained principles for resolving disputes related to unresolved land and property. Adopted as separate appendices to the Unification Treaty, entering into force on 31 August 1990 (Blacksell et al 1996), a key aspect of the joint declaration was "find[ing] a socially acceptable balance between the competing interests, while taking into account the need for legal certainty and clarity and to protect the right of property" (Kuti 2009). More importantly, it created three major policy instruments for coping with land governance tools: compensation, privatization and restitution (Blacksell and Born 2002).…”

Section: Authority-based Tools Main Description Focal Arenas Remarksmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Land Governance Re-Arrangements: The One-Country One-System (OCOS) Versus One-Country Two-System (OCTS) Approach

Lee

Vries

Chigbu

2019

Administrative Sciences

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This paper evaluates how land governance is re-arranged in a state re-structuring process. We compare the cases of the (re-)unification of China with Hong Kong with that of West and East Germany. The division and (re-)unification of these states mark different land governance re-arrangements. The China-Hong Kong (re-)unification relied on a one-country two-system (OCTS) approach, while in West and East Germany, (re-)unification resulted in the creation of a one-country one-system (OCOS). Our key interest is to identify similarities and differences in both cases and the implications of the differences. To support the analysis, we view land governance and (re-)unification from theoretical to practical lenses-structuration theory and the government tools-based approach. This supports the construction of a conceptual and analytical framework, with which we conduct an in-depth exploration to evaluate land governance re-arrangements. We find that the conceptual and analytical framework proves effective for countries, with entirely different land governance regimes, to decide whether to merge or adapt. We do not conclude which approaches for (re-)unification are appropriate to land governance re-arrangements since all countries have different historical contexts and institutional arrangements. Instead, we recommend that governments consider adaptive land governance in signification structures and focus on hierarchical enforcement in legitimation structures. While multi-level land governance in the domination structure phase is strongly required, issue-and-project-based land governance has a pivotal role in providing cross-boundary infrastructures. Nevertheless, further empirical analysis is recommended to verify how and where the re-arrangement processes are initiated and structured.The North and South Korean (re-)unification quagmire is not new in the world. There are many divided countries in need of reunification and there are others that were once divided but finally became reunified. Countries like Cyprus (Turkish and Greek Cypriots), Sudan (Sudan and South Sudan), and Yemen (South and North Yemen) are some countries in need of reunification. China, Vietnam and Germany are examples of countries that were once divided and then became reunified.Adm. Sci. 2019, 9, 21 2 of 26 systems differed vis-à-vis the ideological role of the state, this raised challenges during and after the (re-)unification process.Land governance has been critical to this transforming institutional form and function (Augustinus 2009;Borras and Franco 2010;Deininger and Feder 2009;Enemark 2012). According to Palmer et al. (2009), land governance ruminates more intensely on the matter of the rules, processes and structures about land and its use and concern about who made decisions and how implemented and enforced. As the product of open-ended interactions within structures and agency, land governance can differ significantly depending on the state structures (e.g., unitary state; federal state) and the (re-)unification mechanisms (e.g., civilizat...

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Section: Signification Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Signification Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Authority-based Tools Main Description Focal Arenas Remarksmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Land Governance Re-Arrangements: The One-Country One-System (OCOS) Versus One-Country Two-System (OCTS) Approach

Lee

Vries

Chigbu

2019

Administrative Sciences

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“…Additionally, claims internationally have involved not only monetary compensation, but also claims for restitution of former homelands. For example, after the German reunification in 1990, Germany faced more than 2.5 million distinct claims for property previously confiscated from individual citizens by either the Nazi regime or the East German communist government (Blacksell, Born, and Bohlander 1996). The process of dealing with those claims has been both legally complex and time consuming.…”

Section: Reparations For Mass Violencementioning

confidence: 99%

Reparations, Social Reconciliation, and the Significance of Place: A Legal and Philosophical Examination of Indigenous Cases in the United States and Their Global Implications

Fraley

2007

Humanity & Society

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During genocide, populations are frequently displaced from their homelands. In the process of reparations, displacement is often viewed as a problem of shelter, food, and safety. In this framework, land is treated as an economic commodityany given piece of land is interchangeable with another or for money. This approach is a product of Enlightenment thinking, which emphasizes the rights of the individual over communal rights to land, and conceptualizes land and social identity as strongly separated. This Enlightenment framework of rights, and the accompanying de-emphasis of place, is particularly strong in the United States. Because American legal principles have played a substantial role in the development of human rights laws internationally, there are global implications for how American courts understand land and displacement. By examining Native American claims for land and sovereignty, this essay explores the philosophical and legal understandings of land and culture that are endorsed by American courts. The themes found in American litigation of indigenous land claims are likely to permeate American foreign policy and our involvement in reparations issues internationally. If the American de-emphasis of land continues internationally, effective reparations are unlikely. Homelands are not an interchangeable economic commodity precisely because social identity is not separate from land, but rather rooted firmly in a particular place. When victims of genocide are able to reclaim homelands, there is the possibility of truly

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“…The reorientation needed time, yet many of the changes in society, which affected housing, employment, and social benefits, took effect immediately and would have been made much easier to cope with had people had the confidence and the opportunity to seek independent legal advice. Even when legal advice was sought, especially on matters relating to property restitution, it often seemed to lead to disillusion; what clients perceived as a just case did not always yield, in their eyes, a just solution, owing to the dictates of legal procedure (Blacksell et al, 1996;Dahn, 1994;Smith, 1996). More often, however it has been unfamiliarity with the new order which has resulted either in lawyers not being consulted at all, or in their being consulted too late for effective intervention to be possible.…”

Section: Lawyers and Their Clients And Client Satisfactionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Law, Legal Services, and the Postcommunist Transition in Germany's New Bundesländer

Blacksell

Born

Bohlander³

2000

Environ Plann C Gov Policy

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Introduction One of the most distinctive and deeply ingrained aspects of life in the Communist People's Democracies of Eastern Europe was the stifling hold exercised by the Communist Party and its numerous associated organisations over the whole apparatus of the state, and virtually all other aspects of society. The Party purported to provide, equitably and in the name of social justice, for a wide range of needs which, under democratic capitalism, are normally shared between the government, the church, the judiciary, and all manner of other private agencies. Indeed, one of the key features of the changes that culminated in the`collapse' of Communism in the late 1980s and early 1990s was a growing demand from within these societies that the state and the people be seen as separate and that there be explicit recognition of the role of civil society as distinct and separate from the stateöa concept that had been largely dormant in Europe since the early 19th century (Gellner, 1994). The popular internal movements that were such important catalysts for change in the former East Germany, and elsewhere in Eastern Europe, were in large measure attempts by the people to assert themselves as independent forces alongside the paraphernalia of the Party-dominated government and state (Blacksell, 1997). The spontaneity

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Settlement of Property Claims in Former East Germany

Cited by 9 publications

References 6 publications

Land Governance Re-Arrangements: The One-Country One-System (OCOS) Versus One-Country Two-System (OCTS) Approach

Land Governance Re-Arrangements: The One-Country One-System (OCOS) Versus One-Country Two-System (OCTS) Approach

Reparations, Social Reconciliation, and the Significance of Place: A Legal and Philosophical Examination of Indigenous Cases in the United States and Their Global Implications

Law, Legal Services, and the Postcommunist Transition in Germany's New Bundesländer

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