Formalizing Land Tenure Regimes in Post-Soviet Agriculture – an Institutional Analysis of Agricultural Land Reforms in Georgia

The study focuses on the induced institutional change of property rights regimes of agricultural lands in Georgia, especially with regard to formalizing land tenure in a post-Soviet agrarian context. The increased acquisition of agricultural land by foreign investors is met by soaring resistance of the local population, while the latter does not register/formalize their property rights though. At the same time the augmenting export of agrarian produces, e.g. wine and hazelnut, show successful property regimes and production structures. The aim of this study is to understand how institutional arrangements impact on the organization and structuring of Georgian agriculture. Land market transactions are analyzed according to their institutional arrangement, i.e. rules (entitlements) and conventions. Methodologically, the study follows an abductive research strategy: On the basis of a survey and two case studies – hazelnut and wine – both leading export segments of Georgian agriculture – the institutional arrangements of small-scale and large-scale agricultural producers are compared; the results are, if possible, theoretically proven.