Property as sovereignty in micro: the state/property nexus and the Cyprus Problem

2Citations
Citations of this article
11Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.

This article is free to access.

Abstract

This article shows that landed property can be an exercise of state sovereignty in micro. I argue that property tightly relates to statehood and that the concept of ‘community’ offers us a lens with which to investigate that relation. Property's ‘communal’ character in Cyprus often transcends individual rights to ownership. A house belongs not to an individual, but to persons in their capacity as members of either the Greek-Cypriot or Turkish-Cypriot constitutional communities of the Republic. Focusing on the moral and political claims that ensue from this premise, I show how refugee Cypriots encounter and rearticulate the state in a variety of institutions as they lay claims to property (periousia) – their own or others’. Consequently, I argue that thinking through ‘community’ contributes to understandings of the linkage between property and statecraft (what I call the state/property nexus). In turn, this allows us to better comprehend statehood in post-conflict domains.

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

Rakopoulos, T. (2022). Property as sovereignty in micro: the state/property nexus and the Cyprus Problem. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 28(3), 769–787. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9655.13763

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free