Article Institutional Paradox and Tenure Insecurity in Ethiopian Pastoral Land Administration Mulugeta Getu Sisay 1 Ashenafi Negash Zeleke 2 Habtamu Hailemeskel Gulte 1 Abstract Laws governing pastoral communal lands are barely developed in Ethiopia. The Federal Constitution firmly recognizes uninterrupted land use right of pas- toralists including for grazing. Federal land laws, however, mention pastoralists’ issues incidentally and are far from being comprehensive frameworks. This research is the review of pillars of federal and regional land laws, examination of their imple- mentation, synergy between state and customary land administration system, and the implication of gaps in accessing land for different programmes in Ethiopian Afar and Somali regional states. The findings revealed that in the absence of any federal laws that effectively regulate communal lands uses, regional laws were found to be precarious, feeble and far from being comprehensive. Ironically, the regional laws offered more protection to crop fields than communal (pastoral) land. It is also shown that customary and state land administration systems that operate simultaneously in the areas lack synergy and created stalemate. Keywords Agro-pastoralists, certifcation, investment, land administration, land rights, pasto- ralists, tenure security Journal of Land and Rural Studies 6(2) 1–24  2018 Centre for Rural Studies, LBSNAA SAGE Publications sagepub.in/home.nav DOI: 10.1177/2321024918766589 http://journals.sagepub.com/home/lrs Corresponding author: Mulugeta Getu Sisay, LL.B., LL.M., PhD Student, Cardiff University, School of Law and Politics, Trotman Dickinson Place 8, Maindy, CF14 3UU, Cardiff, UK. E-mail: mulugetagetu23@yahoo.com 1 LL.B., LL.M., PhD Student, Cardiff University, School of Law and Politics, Cardiff, UK. 2 LLB, MA, Lecturer, Haramaya University College of Law, Dire Dawa, Ethiopia.