The Nature and Consequences of Intra-communal Land Disputes, an How They Could Be Mitigated : A Case Study in Beh Town, Bomi County, Western Liberia

Abstract: Communal land disputes have troubled many communities in the world for a long time now (Barak, 2002; UN, 2013; Nolon, Sean, et al. 2013; Najar, I. M, 2014; Eck, K, 2014; Agegnehu, K.S. et al. 2021). In Liberia, these disputes have manifested in various forms including those that may be intra-communal, inter-communal, and those that may occur between a community and a foreign investor or company, or those that may occur between a community and a non-member.    Among the distinct land disputes mentioned supra, land disputes between the community and foreign investors, or in short, community-investors land disputes have received a lot of attention over the past decade. Numerous research and documentation regarding the cause of community-investor land disputes have been researched and documented in Liberia, while intra-communal land disputes have received little attention and it is less understood.   To understand the phenomena, the study used a combination of qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis techniques. Semi-structured and structured questionnaires were developed for this study. The structured questionnaire was administered to household heads within the study community. While the semi-structured questionnaire was administered to local leaders, key staff of the Liberia Land Authority (LLA), and a member of the CSO working group (CSWG) on land rights reform in Liberia. The number of household heads to participating in the study was determined using Yamane’s sample size calculation formula, and the number of qualitative respondents will be selected using a purposive sample approach. Both methods are elaborated in the methodological section below.  This study aims to understand how intra-communal disputes and how could be mitigated in Liberia   Keywords: Intra-communal, land, disputes, mitigation