Land Conflicts in National Strategic Projects within the Framework of Agrarian Political Economy: an Analysis of Tenure Rights, Agrarian Reform, and Community-Based Conflict Resolution

Abstract

National Strategic Projects (PSN) in Indonesia have generated recurring agrarian conflicts involving the state, corporations, and local communities, particularly where formal land administration intersects with customary and long-standing tenure claims. This article aims to analyze the roots of PSN land conflicts and to formulate a community-based conflict-resolution framework by integrating agrarian political economy with Lawrence M. Friedman’s Legal System Theory. The study employs a socio-legal research design with a descriptive qualitative approach and a systematic literature review of agrarian regulations, forestry policies, judicial decisions, institutional documents, and empirical studies. The analysis applies Friedman’s three elements of the legal system: legal substance, legal structure, and legal culture. The findings show that PSN tenure conflicts arise from overlapping agrarian, forestry, and land acquisition regulations, fragmented institutional authority and weak inter-agency coordination, and legal practices that tend to prioritize formal documentation over customary and community-based tenure claims. The study further finds that effective conflict resolution requires harmonization of legal norms, stronger institutional coordination, comprehensive tenure mapping, meaningful community participation, and recognition of customary and locally legitimate mediation mechanisms. Comparative experiences from the Philippines and Australia demonstrate the importance of integrating community participation, consent, and legally recognized negotiation mechanisms into formal land-governance procedures before development projects proceed. The article contributes by combining Friedman’s legal system framework, agrarian political economy, and comparative experience to develop a more coherent community-based tenure-governance model that balances legal certainty, community rights, institutional coordination, and national development objectives.