La terre aux étrangers

This paper offers a comparative analysis of the regulations that have restrained or forbidden the access of foreign individuals or companies to land ownership rights in countries from Southeast Asia. It argues that Southeast Asian nation states crafted these regulations in order to resist foreign domination and to legitimate sovereignty. Drawing on Foucault’s notion of illegalism, it examines the socio-economic tactics that negotiate or transgress these land laws in order to override their limitations. These tactics are widespread in countries that heavily rely on foreign investments. Their success depends on the tolerance of state authorities and the ability of these tactics to maintain a façade of legality. “Condominium laws” in Southeast Asia have legalised, with different temporalities, foreign ownership on condominium units. The separation between property and land ownership conciliates land-based claims of national sovereignty with the strong internationalisation of real estate markets in Southeast Asia.