Land privatization and management in Serbia - Policy in limbo

Abstract

Unlike in most other European post-socialist countries, in Serbia, land policy and property reforms have only been partially implemented. A new approach is neither fully defined nor institutionalized a decade after the end of ethnic conflict and the Milosevic era. The context and characteristics of Serbia's urban-land privatization reforms and the land development management of its capital, Belgrade, illustrate the complexities involved in establishing new institutional arrangements under circumstances of overall societal transition. The negative implications of the prolonged transition to a new land policy and related land-management instruments only serve to aggravate the already difficult social, economic, and spatial development situation. The deeply embedded Serbian political culture may be the overriding cause of these difficulties.