Resource property, forest governance, environmental justice, processes of state formation, REDD+, smallholder tree plantations, land use, social differentiation, agrarian change, rural politics. 

Research Groups:  Global Environmental Justice; Politics, Governance and the State
 

Research Activities

My research includes the following programs:

• Forest governance and institutions
• Benefit distribution mechanisms for REDD+
• Dimensions of (in)justice in watershed management
• Dynamics of property and resource use
• Rural property  

 Information on past research:

• The limits of state-led land reform 
• Contemporary transformations of Vietnam’s uplands
• Postsocialist land-use changes in South-East Europe
• Postsocialist rural transformations 
• New forms of natural resource governance 

Current PhD students: 

• David Blake, Irrigationalism – the politics and ideology of irrigation development in the Nam Songkhram Basin, Northeast Thailand 
• Joana Borges Coutinho, Property, access and exclusion in the forests of East Kalimantan: will anything change under REDD+?
• Neil Dawson, Investigating the dynamic relationship between natural resources and human wellbeing in rural Rwanda
• He Jun, Decentralization of Forest Management in Yunnan Province, Southwest China
• Rodd Myers, Can Forest-Based Poverty Alleviation Improve both Livelihoods and Conservation in Indonesia?
• John Sawdon, Climate change mitigation policy in rapidly industrializing countries

I welcome enquiries from those interested in resource governance and institutions, particularly in Southeast Asia and China. I am especially in supervising research students interested in issues of (in)justice and REDD+.

Publications

Articles in peer-reviewed journals: 

Dorondel, S., Sikor, T. Private Property: From Postsocialism to Neoliberalism?,  Annuaire Roumain d’Anthropologie, Vol. 46, pp. 55-62, 2009. 
Link to Journal

Sikor, T., Müller, D. The Limits of State-Led Land Reform: An Introduction,  World Development, Vol. 37, No. 8, pp. 1307-1316, 2009.
Link to Journal Article

Sikor, T., Müller, D., Stahl, J.  Land fragmentation and cropland abandonment in Albania: Implications for the roles of state and community in postsocialist land consolidation,  World Development, Vol. 37, No. 8, pp. 1411-1423, 2009. 
Link to Journal Article

Stahl, J., Sikor, T.   Rural Property in an Age of Transnational Migration: Ethnic Divisions in Southeastern Albania, Anthropologica, Vol. 51, pp. 95-107, 2009
Link to Journal Article

Sikor, T. Lund, C.  Access and Property: A Question of Power and Authority, Development and Change, Vol. 40, No. 1, pp. 1-22, 2009.
Link to Journal Article 

Sikor, T., Stahl, J., Dorondel, S. Negotiating Post-Socialist Property and State: Struggles over Forests in Albania and Romania, Development and Change, Vol. 40, No. 1, pp. 171-193, 2009. 
Link to Journal Article

Stahl, J., Sikor, T., Dorondel, S. The Institutionalization of Property Rights in Albanian and Romanian Biodiversity Conservation, International Journal of Agricultural Resources, Governance and Ecology, Vol. 8, No. 1, pp. 57-73, 2009.  

Stahl, J., Sikor, T., Dorondel, S. Transparence de l’administration foncière en Albanie et en Roumanie, Options Méditerranéennes (Series A), No. 82, pp. 55-64, 2009. 
Link to Journal Article

Sikor, T., Nguyen Q.T. Why May Forest Devolution not Benefit the Rural Poor? Forest Entitlements in Vietnam’s Central Highlands, in: World Development, Vol. 35, No. 11, pp. 2010-2025, 2007.
Link to Journal Article

Sikor, T., Tran N.T. Exclusive versus Inclusive Devolution in Forest Management: Insights from Forest Land Allocation in Vietnam’s Central Highlands, in: Land Use Policy, Vol. 24, No. 4, pp. 644-653, 2007.
Link to Journal Article

Müller, D., Sikor, T. Effects of Postsocialist Reforms on Land Cover and Land Use in South-Eastern Albania, in: Applied Geography, Vol. 26, No. 3-4, pp. 175-191, 2006.
Link to Journal Article
 
Sikor, T. The Politics of Rural Land Registration in Postsocialist Societies: Contested Land Titling in North-Western Vietnam, in: Land Use Policy, Vol. 23, No. 4, pp. 617-628, 2006.
Link to Journal Article

Sikor, T. Analyzing Community-based Forestry: Local, Political and Agrarian Perspectives, in: Forest Policy and Economics, Vol. 8, No. 4, pp. 339-349, 2006.
Link to Journal Article
 
Sikor, T. Agri-Environmental Governance and Political Systems in Central and Eastern Europe, in: International Journal of Agricultural Resources, Governance and Ecology, Vol. 5, No. 4, pp. 413-427, 2006.
Link to Journal Article

Tran N.T., Sikor, T. From Legal Acts to Actual Powers: Devolution and Property Rights in the Central Highlands of Vietnam, in: Forest Policy and Economics, Vol. 8, No. 4, pp. 397-408, 2006.
Link to Journal Article

Sikor, T. Rural Property and Agri-environmental Legislation in Central and Eastern Europe, in: Sociologia Ruralis, Vol. 45, No. 3, pp. 187-201, 2005.
Link to Journal Article

Sikor, T., Pham T.T.V The Dynamics of Commoditization in a Vietnamese Uplands Village, 1980-2000, in: Journal of Agrarian Change, Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 405-428, 2005.
Link to Journal Article

Sikor, T., Nguyen Q.T., Tran N.T. Learning Forest Devolution: An Assessment Tool Developed in Vietnam for Forest Departments, in: International Forestry Review, Vol. 7, No. 4, pp. 320-331, 2005.
Link to Journal Article

Sikor, T. The Commons in Transition: Agrarian and Environmental Change in Central and Eastern Europe, in: Environmental Management, Vol. 34, No. 2, pp. 270-280, 2004.
Link to Journal Article

Sikor, T. Conflicting Concepts: Contested Land Relations in North-western Vietnam, in: Conservation and Society, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 59-79, 2004.
Link to Journal Article

Sturgeon, J., Sikor, T. Postsocialist Property in Asia and Europe - Variations on 'Fuzziness', in: Conservation and Society, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 1-17, 2004.

Sikor, T. Nhung Khai Niem Co Ban va cac Van De Trong Nghien Cuu Huong Dung Dat, in: Tap Chi Dan Toc Hoc (Journal of Ethnology), Vol. 36, No. 4, pp. 14-25, 2003.

Sikor, T., Dao M.T. Agricultural Policy and Land Use Changes in Black Thai Villages of Northern Vietnam, 1952-1997, in: Mountain Research and Development, Vol. 22, No. 3, pp. 248-255, 2002.
Link to Journal Article          Link to Document

Sikor, T. Agrarian Differentiation in (Post-)Socialist Vietnam, in: Development and Change, Vol. 32, No. 5, pp. 923-949, 2001.
Link to Journal Article

Sikor, T. The Allocation of Forestry Land in Vietnam: Did it Cause the Expansion of Forests in the Northwest?, in: Forest Policy and Economics, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 1-11, 2001.
Link to Journal Article

Dao M.T., Sikor, T. Anh Huong cua Chinh Sach Nong Nghiep vao Su Dung Dat tai Vung Tay Bac Viet Nam, in: Tap Chi Dan Toc Hoc (Journal of Ethnology), Vol. 34, No. 6, pp. 36-47, 2001.

Sikor, T. Development and Vietnam's Minorities, in: Asian Ethnicity, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 149-152, 2000.

Sikor, T. Vietnam's Agricultural Miracle, in: Vietnam's Socio-Economic Development, No. 6, pp. 40-56, 1996.

Sikor, T., O'Rourke, D. Economic and Environmental Dynamics of Reform in Vietnam, in: Asian Survey, Vol. 36, No. 6, pp. 601-617, 1996.
Link to Journal Article

Sikor, T., O'Rourke, D. A Tiger in Search of a New Path: The Economic and Environmental Dynamics of Reform in Vietnam, in: Vietnam's Socio-Economic Development, No. 4, pp. 35-52, 1995.
Link to document

Sikor, T. Participatory Methods and Empowerment in Rural Development: Lessons from Two Experimental Workshops with a Chilean NGO, in: Agriculture and Human Values, Vol. 11, No. 2/3, pp. 151-158, 1994.
Link to Journal Article
 

Editing of special journal issues and books: 

Sikor, T., Lund, C. (eds.) 2009. The Politics of Possession: Property, Access and Authority. Blackwell, London, 2009.
Link to publisher

Sikor, T., Muller, D. (eds), The Limits of State-Led Land Reform.  Special issue, World Development, Vol 37, No. 8, pp 1307-1316, 2009
Link to Journal Article

Dorondel, S., Sikor, T.  Private Property: From Postsocialism to Neoliberalism?, Special issue in: Annuaire Roumain d’Anthropologie, Vol. 46, 2009.
Link to Journal  

Sikor, T., Lund, C. (eds.) International Authority and Processes of Access and Property. Special issue  Development and Change. Vol. 40, No. 1, pp 1-22, 2009
Link to Journal Article

Sikor, T. (ed.) Public and Private in Natural Resource Governance: A False Dichotomy? Earthscan Publications, London. 2008.
Link to Publisher

Sikor, T. (ed.) Community-based Forestry in the Developing World: Analyses from an Agrarian Perspective, in: Forest Policy and Economics, Vol. 8, No. 4, 2006. 
Link to Journal Article

Sikor, T. (ed.) The Commons in Transition: Agrarian and Environmental Change in Central and Eastern Europe, in: Environmental Management, Vol. 34, No. 2, 2004.  Sikor, T., Sturgeon, J. (eds.) Postsocialist Property Relations: Ethnographies of Agrarian Change in Eastern Europe and East Asia, in: Conservation and Society, Vol. 2, No. 1, 2004.
Link to Journal

Vuong X.T., Sikor, T. (eds.) Land Tenure in the Vietnamese Uplands, in: Tap Chi Dan Toc Hoc (Journal of Ethnology), Vol. 36, No. 4, 2003. 

Book chapters: 

Sikor, T. Giao Dat o Vung Cao Viet Nam: Van De Dieu Chinh Quyen Huong Dung va Tham Quyen (Land allocation in the Vietnamese uplands: Negotiating Property and Authority), in: Sikor, T., Nghiem P.T., Romm, J, Sowerwine, J. (eds.), Thoi Mo Cua: Nhung Chuyen Doi Kinh Te-Xa Hoi Vung Cao Viet Nam (Times of Opening: Socio-economic Transformations in Vietnam’s Uplands). Forthcoming with Science and Technology Publishers, Hanoi, 2008.

Sikor, T. New Publics and Property Rights, in: T. Sikor (ed.), Public and Private in Natural Resource Governance: A False Dichotomy? Earthscan Publications, London. 2008. 
Link to Publisher

Sikor, T., Barlösius, E., Scheumann, W. Public and Private in Natural Resource Governance, in: T. Sikor (ed.), Public and Private in Natural Resource Governance: A False Dichotomy? Earthscan Publications, London. 2008. 
Link to Publisher
 
Sikor, T. Land Reform and the State in Vietnam's Northwestern Mountains, pp. 91-107 in: J. Connell, E. Waddell (eds.), The Local and the Global: Environment, Development and Change in the Asia-Pacific Region, Routledge, London, 2006. 

Sikor, T. Land as Asset, Land as Liability: Property Politics in Rural Central and Eastern Europe, pp. 106-125 in: Benda-Beckmann, von F., Benda-Beckmann, von K., Wiber, M. (eds.), Changing Properties of Property, New York, N.Y.: Berghahn, 2006. 

Sikor, T. Delineations of Private and Public: Emerging Forms of Agri-Environmental Governance in Central and Eastern Europe, pp. 37-50 in: Cheshire, L., Higgins, V., Lawrence G. (eds.), Rural Governance: International Perspectives, Routledge, Oxon, 2006. 

Sturgeon, J., Sikor, T. Fuzzy Property in Postsocialist Asia and Europe, pp. 233-244 in: Golz, R., Kollmorgen, R. (eds.), Transformation als Typ sozialen Wandels. Postsozialistische Lektionen, Historische und Interkulturelle Vergleiche, Münster, LIT Verlag, 2005. 

Sikor, T. Entries on ‘Common-Pool Resources’, ‘Land Privatization’ and ‘Land Rights’, in: Geist, H. (ed.), Encyclopedia of Land-Use/Cover Change, Westport, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2005. 

Sikor, T. and Stahl. J. Entries on ‘Private Property’ and ‘Property’, in: Geist, H. (ed.), Encyclopedia of Land-Use/Cover Change, Westport, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2005. 

Sikor, T. Agro-Environmental Governance and the State: Lessons from Central and Eastern Europe, pp. 407-414 in: Hagedorn, K., Nagel, U.J., Odening, M. (eds.), Umwelt- und Produktqualität im Agrarbereich, Münster-Hiltrup: Landwirtschaftsverlag, 2004.

Sikor, T. Local Government in the Exercise of State Power: The Politics of Land Allocation in Black Thai villages, pp. 171-200 in: B. Kerkvliet, D. Marr (eds.), Beyond Hanoi: Local Government in Vietnam, Institute for Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, 2004. 

Sikor, T., Dao M.T. Changes in Land Use in Black Thai Villages in Response to Changes in the National Land Management Policies, pp. 439-452 in: F. Hisao, N. Mitsuaki, K. Yasayuki, K. Yoshihiro (eds.), Ecological Destruction, Health, and Development: Advancing Asian Paradigms, Kyoto University Press and Trans Pacific Press, Kyoto and Melbourne, 2004. 

Sikor, T. Domesticating Reforms: Agrarian change in Black Thai villages of northern Vietnam, pp. 63-88 in: R. Klump, Mutz, G. (eds.), Doi Moi in Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft: Soziale und Ökonomische Transformation in Vietnam, Metropolis, Frankfurt, 2002. 

Sikor, T., Norgaard, R.B. Principles for Sustainability: Protection, Investment, Cooperation, and Innovation, pp. 49-65 in: J. Köhn et al. (eds.), Sustainability in Question: Regional and Sectoral Case Studies, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, 1999. 

Sikor, T. Forest Policy Reform: From State to Household Forestry, pp. 18-37 in: M. Poffenberger (ed.), Stewards of Vietnam's Upland Forests, Asia Forest Network, Berkeley, 1998. 

Le T.C., Sikor, T., Rucker, M. National Agricultural Policy, pp. 37-43 in: Le T.C. et al. (eds.), Red Books, Green Hills, East-West Center, Honolulu, 1996 (in English and Vietnamese). 

Le T.C., Sikor, T. Village-Level Implementation of Economic Reform Policies, pp. 18-37 in: Le T.C. et al. (eds.), Red Books, Green Hills, East-West Center, Honolulu, 1996 (in English and Vietnamese). 

Sikor, T. Decree 327 and the Restoration of Barren Land in the Vietnamese Highlands, pp. 143-156 in: A.T. Rambo et al. (eds.), Defining Highland Development Challenges in Vietnam, East-West Center, Honolulu, 1995. 

Norgaard, R. B., Sikor, T. The Methodology and Practice of Agroecology, pp. 21-39 in: M. Altieri (ed.), Agroecology: The Scientific Basis of Alternative Agriculture, Westview Press, Boulder, 1995/96 (in English and Spanish). 

Sikor, T. Tourism in the Revolution - Revolution of Tourism?, pp. 213-245 in: N. Häusler et al. (eds.), Retracing the Track of Tourism, Breitenbach Publishers, Saarbrücken, 1993/94 (in English and German). 
 

Books and monographs: 

Sikor, T., Dao M.T. Sticky Rice, Collective Fields: Community-based Development among the Black Thai, Agricultural Publishing House, Hanoi, 2000 (in English and Vietnamese). 

Sikor, T. The Political Economy of Decollectivization: a Study of Differentiation in and among Black Thai Villages of Northern Vietnam, Ph.D. dissertation, University of California at Berkeley, 1999 (internet publication). 
 

Other publications: 

Sikor, T., Civic Initiatives and Rural Development. UNDP Development and Transition Newsletter 11: 12-14. 2008 
Link to newsletter article

Thelen, T., Cartwright, A., Sikor, T.  Local State and Social Security in Rural Communities: A new research agenda and the example of postsocialist Europe. Working Paper No. 105. Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle. 2008.
Link to document

Sikor, T., Stahl, J., Dorondel, S.  Negotiating Property and State: Post-Socialist Struggles over Albanian and Romanian Forests. Working Paper No. 9. School of Development Studies. Norwich. 2008.
Link to document
 
To X.P., Sikor, T. The Politics of Illegal Logging in Vietnam. Working Paper No. 5. School of Development Studies. Norwich. 2008. 
Link to document

Sikor, T. Forest Policy Reform in Vietnam: From State to Household Forestry, in: Asian NGO Coalition for Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ed.), Enhancing Access of the Poor to Land and Common Property Resources, Quezon City, Philippines, 2006. 

Sikor, T. Central and Eastern European Commons, in: The Common Property Resource Digest, No. 76, pp. 5-6, 2006.

Sikor, T., Tran N.T. Forest Commons vs. the State? in: IIAS Newsletter, No. 42, p. 32, 2006.

Sikor, T., Müller, D. Wie wirken sich postsozialistische Bodenreformen auf die Landnutzung aus? in: Humboldt Spektrum, No. 1, pp. 40-44, 2004. 

Tran N.T., Nguyen Q.T., Sikor, T. Local Impact Assessment After Forest Land Allocation in Dak Lak, Central Highlands of Vietnam. Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), Eschborn, 2004. 

Tran H.N., Sikor, T., Dang T.L., Nguyen V.D., Vu V.M. Devolution of Forest Management: Six Years of Experience in Dak Lak, Buon Ma Thuot, Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Dak Lak, 2003.
Link to Document

Sikor, T. Thoughts on the Role of the State in Resource Governance, in: The Common Property Resource Digest, No. 64, p. 9, 2003.

Sikor, T. Why Study Land Tenure in the Northern Mountains of Vietnam? in: Center for Environment, Gender, and Sustainable Development Studies (ed.), Land Tenure in the Uplands of Vietnam (Workshop Proceedings), Hanoi, 2003 (in English and Vietnamese). 

Tran N.T., Nguyen Q.T., Sikor, T. Local Impact Assessment After Forest Land Allocation: Manual, Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Dak Lak, Buon Ma Thuot, 2003 (in English and Vietnamese).
Link to Document

Tran N.T., Nguyen Q.T., Sikor, T.  The Local Outcomes of Forest Land Allocation: Evidence from Dak Lak, Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Dak Lak, Buon Ma Thuot, 2003 (in English and Vietnamese).
Link to Document

Tran N.T., Nguyen Q.T., Sikor, T., Nguyen N.L. Giao rung tu nhien cho nong dan va danh gia hieu qua sau 3 nam, in: Tap Chi Nong Nghiep, No. 9, pp. 1182-1184, 2003.

 Wasilewski, A., Sikor, T. Institutional Options for the Protection of Open Space: Evidence from Poland, CEESA Discussion Paper No. 18, Humboldt University Berlin, 2003. 
Link to Document
 
Sikor, T. The Commons in Transition: Agrarian and Environmental Change in Central and Eastern Europe, CEESA Discussion Paper No. 10, Humboldt University Berlin, 2002. 
Link to Document
 
Hagedorn, K., Sikor, T. (eds.) Alternative Concepts of Institutions of Sustainability in Central and Eastern European Countries, Report to the European Union, Contract No. QLK5-1999-01611, 2002. 

Sikor, T. Institutional Alternatives for Sustainable Agriculture in Central and Eastern Europe, in: K. Hagedorn, Sikor, T. (eds.), Alternative Concepts of Institutions of Sustainability in Central and Eastern European Countries, Report to the European Union, Contract No. QLK5-1999-01611, 2002.

Sikor, T., Dao M.T. Nhung Anh Huong Kinh Te Va Moi Truong Cua Cai Cach Ruong Dat Tai Ba Ban Nguoi Thai Den Vung Tay-Bac Viet Nam, pp. 141-160 in: Phan H.L. (ed.), Cac Nha Viet Nam Hoc Nuoc Ngoai Viet Ve Viet Nam, Tap II, Nha Xuat Ban The Gioi, Hanoi, 2002.

Sikor, T., Hagedorn, K. Institutional and Environmental Changes in Central and Eastern European Countries, in: K. Hagedorn, Judis, R. (eds.), Institutions of Sustainability in Central and Eastern European Countries, Report to the European Union, Contract No. QLK5-1999-01611, 2001. 

Sikor, T., Dao M.T. Effects of Land Allocation on Land Use in Black Thai Villages of Northern Vietnam, in: Proceedings of the International Symposium II on Montane Mainland Southeast Asia, Chiang Mai, 2000. 

Sikor, T., Dao M.T. Sticky Rice, Collective Fields: Community-based Development among the Black Thai - Policy Brief, Agricultural Publishing House, Hanoi, 1999 (in English and Vietnamese). 

Sikor, T., Apel, U.  Possibilities for Community Forestry in Vietnam, Asia Forest Network, Berkeley, 1998. 
Link to Document