Governing global land deals : the role of the state in the rush for land

This collection of essays in Governing Global Land Deals provides new empirical and theoretical analyses of the relationships between global land grabs and processes of government and governance. Reframes debates on global land grabs by focusing on the relationship between large-scale land deals and processes of governance Offers new theoretical insights into the different forms and effects of global land acquisitions Illuminates both the micro-processes of transaction and expropriation, as well as the broader structural forces at play in global land deals Provides new empirical data on the different actors involved in contemporary land deals occurring across the globe and focuses on the specific institutional, political, and economic contexts in which they are acting Governing Global Land Deals 3 Contents 7 List of Contributors 9 1 Governing Global Land Deals: The Role of the State in the Rush for Land 11 INTRODUCTION 11 TERRITORY 21 SOVEREIGNTY 23 AUTHORITY 24 SUBJECTS 26 CONCLUSION 28 REFERENCES 28 2 State Involvement, Land Grabbing and Counter-Insurgency in Colombia 33 INTRODUCTION 33 TERRITORIALIZATION AND VIOLENCE 36 A Territory in Dispute 37 Counter-insurgency and Territory 40 PALM OIL AND LAND GRABBING 43 Land Grabbing and Property Rights 43 Palm Crops: ‘Developing the Territory’ 47 CONCLUSION 50 REFERENCES 51 3 Road Mapping: Megaprojects and Land Grabs in the Northern Guatemalan Lowlands 55 INTRODUCTION: ROADS TO DEVELOPMENT 55 SURVEYING THE PETÉN 59 THE PPP 61 LAND ADMINISTRATION PROJECT 63 CONSPIRACY THEORY? 64 LAND SALES 65 IMBRICATED LAND GRABBERS 67 Cattle 67 Cattle/Palm 69 Cattle/Narcos 71 Cattle/Military 73 CONCLUSION 75 REFERENCES 77 4 Land Regularization in Brazil and the Global Land Grab 81 INTRODUCTION 81 LAND GRABS AND AGRIBUSINESS INVESTMENTS IN THE CERRADO 83 THE TERRA LEGAL PROPERTY REGULARIZATION PROGRAMME IN THE AMAZON 86 DISCUSSION 93 CONCLUSION 97 REFERENCES 99 5 Negotiating Environmental Sovereignty in Costa Rica 103 INTRODUCTION 103 Environmental Sovereignty 104 CEDING SOVEREIGNTY 106 UNIFICATION TO DISSENT 108 AGRARIAN ENVIRONMENTALISM 110 Restoring the Earth 110 Jamaica and Discontent 111 Land Reform 112 REASSERTING THE NATION 112 New Development 113 DYSTOPIA: ECOLOGICAL CRITIQUE 115 NEW NARRATIVES 116 Regional Interconnection and Sustainability 117 Indigenous Opposition and Renewable Energy 119 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION 120 REFERENCES 122 6 Building the Politics Machine: Tools for ‘Resolving’ the Global Land Grab 127 INTRODUCTION 127 ‘RESOLVING’ THE GLOBAL LAND GRAB 130 TOOL 1: INVESTOR TRAJECTORIES 132 Dimensions of Land Grabbing 133 The Bigger Picture 136 TOOL 2: GENEALOGIES OF FORMALIZATION 139 Operationalizing ‘Locally Owned Land’ on Paper 141 Differences on the Ground 144 CONCLUSION 147 REFERENCES 148 7 Indirect Dispossession: Domestic Power Imbalances and Foreign Access to Land in Mozambique 151 INTRODUCTION 151 NATIONAL INSTITUTIONS (IN THEORY AND IN PRACTICE) 154 The 1997 Land Law: Putting Customary Land Rights Back on the Map 155 ‘A Terra Não Se Vende . . . ’ 157 DOMESTIC ELITES AND FOREIGN LAND ACQUISITIONS 158 Traditional Authority 159 Bureaucratic Influence 161 Historical Accumulation 162 Locally-based Business Knowledge and Networks 163 Control over the Development Agenda 164 CONCLUSION 166 REFERENCES 168 8 Competition over Authority and Access: International Land Deals in Madagascar 173 INTRODUCTION 173 SITUATION OF LEGAL AND INSTITUTIONAL PLURALISM 175 GAINING LAND ACCESS 177 Formal and Informal Routes to Negotiating Land Access 178 Land Deals in Madagascar: Three Case Studies 179 CONTROLLING LAND ACCESS 183 Asserting Authority 184 ‘Administrative Selection’ 186 MAINTAINING LAND ACCESS 187 Agribusiness Projects as Development Projects 187 Violently Contesting Land Access 188 Maintaining Land Insecurity 189 CONCLUSION 189 REFERENCES 191 9 Regimes of Dispossession: From Steel Towns to Special Economic Zones 195 INTRODUCTION 195 STEEL TOWNS 198 INDUSTRIAL ESTATES 201 INDUSTRIAL AREAS 202 INDUSTRIAL AREAS IN TRANSITION 204 SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONES 207 CONCLUSION 214 REFERENCES 217 10 The Political Construction of Wasteland: Governmentality, Land Acquisition and Social Inequality in South India 221 INTRODUCTION 221 THE STATE AND SUBJECT FORMATION 222 Wasteland Governmentality 222 METHODS AND FIELD SITE 225 TAMIL NADU AGRARIAN STATUS AND WASTELAND POLICIES 227 Wasteland Development Redux 227 THE MECHANICS OF LAND ACQUISITION IN SATTUR 229 Accumulation 230 Brokers’ Sales Pitch: A Lockean Narrative of Wasted Lands 231 Appropriation 232 Land Record Analysis 232 Motivations 233 OUTCOMES: FARM, FACTORY AND LAND BROKERING 234 Land Prices 236 CONCLUSION 237 REFERENCES 237 11 Chinese Land-Based Interventions in Senegal 241 INTRODUCTION 241 AGRICULTURE AS PERFORMANCE: AN ACTOR-ORIENTED APPROACH 243 CHINA AND SENEGAL: INTRODUCING THE CASE STUDY 244 ‘COLLABORATION’ ON PAPER AND IN PRACTICE 247 SCENE 1: EATING BITTER TO TASTE SWEET 249 SCENE 2: ONSTAGE IMPROVISATIONS 253 SCENE 3: TAKING THE PERFORMANCE OFFSTAGE 257 CONCLUSION 259 REFERENCES 260 12 Identity, Territory and Land Conflict in Brazil 263 INTRODUCTION 263 THE ROLE OF THE LAND GRAB 267 LAND POLITICS AND THE PRODUCTION OF INDIGENEITY 269 LAND POLITICS, WHITENESS AND MULTICULTURALISM 276 CONCLUSIONS 280 REFERENCES 281 Index 285 Originally published as volume 44, issue 2 of Development and Change. Governing global land deals : the role of the state in the rush for land / Wendy Wolford, Saturnino M. Borras Jr., Ruth Hall, Ian Scoones and Ben White State involvement, land grabbing and counter-insurgency in colombia / Jacobo Grajales Road mapping : megaprojects and land grabs in the northern guatemalan lowlands / Liza Grandia Land regularization in Brazil and the global land grab / Gustavo de L.T. Oliveira Negotiating environmental sovereignty in Costa Rica / Dana J. Graef Building the politics machine : tools for "resolving" the global land grab / Michael B. Dwyer Indirect dispossession : domestic power imbalances and foreign access to land in Mozambique / Madeleine Fairbairn Competition over authority and access : international land deals in Madagascar / Perrine Burnod, Mathilde Gingembre and Rivo Andrianirina Ratsialonana Regimes of dispossession : from steel towns to special economic zones / Michael Levien The political construction of wasteland : governmentality, land acquisition and social inequality in South India / Jennifer Baka Chinese land-based interventions in Senegal / Lila Buckley Identity, territory and land conflict in Brazil / LaShandra Sullivan. Content: Governing global land deals : the role of the state in the rush for land / Wendy Wolford, Saturnino M. Borras Jr., Ruth Hall, Ian Scoones and Ben White -- State involvement, land grabbing and counter-insurgency in colombia / Jacobo Grajales -- Road mapping : megaprojects and land grabs in the northern guatemalan lowlands / Liza Grandia -- Land regularization in brazil and the global land grab / Gustavo de L.T. Oliveira -- Negotiating environmental sovereignty in costa rica / Dana J. Graef -- Building the politics machine : tools for "resolving" the global land grab / Michael B. Dwyer -- Indirect dispossession : domestic power imbalances and foreign access to land in mozambique / Madeleine Fairbairn -- Competition over authority and access : international land deals in madagascar / Perrine Burnod, Mathilde Gingembre and Rivo Andrianirina Ratsialonana -- Regimes of dispossession : from steel towns to special economic zones / Michael Levien -- The political construction of wasteland : governmentality, land acquisition and social inequality in south india / Jennifer Baka -- Chinese land-based interventions in senegal / Lila Buckley -- Identity, territory and land conflict in brazil / LaShandra Sullivan. Over the past decade, there has been a dramatic increase in large-scale land deals, often from public lands to the hands of foreign or domestic investors. This collection provides new empirical and theoretical analyses of the relationships between global land grabs and processes of government and governance.