Increased legal access and the devolution of natural resource administration are generally seen as sources of power for local communities and their institutions. However, beyond this widely held expectation, the politics of land reform suggest that legal recognition of rights and devolution is not the only issue with implications for communal tenure reforms. Misconceptions about communal tenure, which are rooted in history, and their appropriation by local elites in the processes of communal tenure reform are characteristic of both colonial and post-colonial governments in Kenya. Although typically articulated and promulgated to enhance political representation and to devolve control over resources to the local level, unresolved issues in the reform process have worked to undermine the legitimacy of communal land rights in contemporary Kenyan society.A case study of the post-2010 community land legislation process demonstrates the continuing relevance of historically conditioned political and ideological representations of communal tenure built during the colonial period and reproduced in policy in independent Kenya. This paper offers reflections on the centrality of sustained communal tenure misconceptions, fetishization of formal governance institutions, and the institutional and power configurations that primarily benefit powerful stakeholders as sources of the current breakdown in the implementation of community land law

中文翻译：

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肯尼亚公共权属改革的权力下放和政治

增加合法准入和自然资源管理权下放通常被视为当地社区及其机构的权力来源。然而，除了这一广泛持有的预期之外，土地改革的政治表明，对权利和权力下放的法律承认并不是影响公有制改革的唯一问题。根植于历史的对公有制的误解以及当地精英在公有制改革过程中对公有制的误解是肯尼亚殖民政府和后殖民政府的特征。虽然通常被阐明和颁布以提高政治代表性并将对资源的控制权下放到地方一级，改革过程中未解决的问题已经破坏了当代肯尼亚社会公共土地权利的合法性。 2010 年后社区土地立法过程的案例研究表明，在历史条件下建立的公共土地权属政治和意识形态表征的持续相关性。殖民时期并在独立的肯尼亚政策中复制。本文反思了持续的公共权属误解的中心地位，对正式治理机构的迷恋，以及主要使强大的利益相关者受益的制度和权力配置是当前社区土地法实施崩溃的根源。对 2010 年后社区土地立法进程的案例研究表明，殖民时期建立并在独立的肯尼亚政策中再现的历史条件政治和意识形态表征的持续相关性。本文反思了持续的公共权属误解的中心地位，对正式治理机构的迷恋，以及主要使强大的利益相关者受益的制度和权力配置是当前社区土地法实施崩溃的根源。对 2010 年后社区土地立法进程的案例研究表明，殖民时期建立并在独立的肯尼亚政策中再现的历史条件政治和意识形态表征的持续相关性。本文反思了持续的公共权属误解的中心地位，对正式治理机构的迷恋，以及主要使强大的利益相关者受益的制度和权力配置是当前社区土地法实施崩溃的根源。