The percentage of those working in agriculture in village committees for conflict arbitration is declining especially in South and Southeast Asia due to socio-economic development. Correspondingly, values, goals and the type of arbitration decision have changed often to the benefit of the non-agricultural portion of the population. Increasingly, the law of the central government will go into effect.

Conflict arbitration which is based on autochthonous rights treats the involved parties differently in Africa. "Equal in the eyes of the law" according to Euro-American understanding is only rarely ensured. Women usually receive rights to land only via their husbands; the young are in a weaker position compared to the older generations in land conflicts; the old-established have legal priority over immigrants; and the crop farmers possess more comprehensive and better defined land rights than pastoralists. The conflict between state law which is based on equality regardless of who the person is, his sex, his ethnic group, etc., and the legal reality is virtually insolvable.

As long as functional lower court authorities are non-existent and professional associations of attorneys are not permitted, then the effect of state conflict arbitration will be limited to the cities. If only loose connections between both systems exist, then the positive aspects of each will be systematically played off against one another and undermined. The discrepancy between the demands of reform and the legal reality creates new conflicts.