Elements of Real Estate Development in Iraq

Abstract

This article examines the influence of real estate developers on land use law, land use planning, and property law. The conceptual framework relies on third-phase institutionalism and socio-legal theory by examining actors and ideas that shape knowledge and practices of land use, planning, and property. In addition, this study addresses omissions in planning theory that disregard the role of real estate developers in land conflicts, particularly their influence on the legislative framework controlling land use. The idea is that property law is not only an objective set of principles that attorneys, judges, and courts interpret. It is also not a unified idea that safeguards private property rights. Instead, it is a complicated notion and institution that evolves via political processes, including mass movements, the exercise of power and influence by elite players, and deliberate actions by political actors negotiating different and opposing agendas.