Perspectives on Foreign Investment in Agriculture: The Political Economy of 'Land Grabbing'

Abstract

The emerging interest of (public and private) investors in land for various purposes, including agriculture, mining and recreational purposes - is often associated with the term “land-grabbing”. It generally refers to distinct process-specific aspects of land transactions of state (or communal) lands to foreign investors. Especially developing economies with low degrees of land-use intensity, but sufficiently “exploitable” land available appear to be the prime target regions of investors. These land deals have been criticized for a variety of reasons, including forceful deprivation of land and related livelihood options from previous land users, putting food and water security in the target countries at risk and giving rise to violent social conflicts. At the heart of such criticism lies the assumption that power asymmetries are misused to the severe detriment of local land users. These asymmetries may arise between investors and local governments, but also between local governments and populations. More generally, institutional settings (corruption, property right protection etc.) seem to play a very important role. Given the complexity of the issue, this panels combines different scientific approaches to the phenomenon of „land-grabbing“ and shall provide a forum for interdisciplinary discussion with special focus on the distinct features of land deals, the role of institutions and power relations, the potential impact of land transactions on food security, and the largely neglected concept of “water grabs”. The perspective of Political Economy allows for integrating concepts and tools from economics, political science, sociology and other disciplines to analyse the complex phenomenon of land grabbing, and to understand the immanent asymmetries of power and conflict dynamics attributable to changing forms of land ownership and land use. Furthermore, the analytical approach of political economy may foster new perspectives on the role of institutional design options at different levels to regulate land use and land transactions.

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