Governing the Global Land Grab: Multipolarity, Ideas, and Complexity in Transnational Governance

Abstract

Since 2008, a series of new regulatory initiatives have emerged to address large-scale land grabs. These initiatives are occurring simultaneously at multiple levels of social organization instead of a single, overarching institutional site. A significant portion of this activity is taking place at the transnational level. We suggest that transnational land governance is indicative of emerging shifts in the practice of governance of global affairs. We analyze such shifts by asking two related questions: what does land grabbing tell us about developments in transnational governance, particularly with regard to North-South relations, and what do these developments in transnational governance mean for regulating land grabbing?

Emergent Global Land Governance

“…Yet the six characteristics discussed above highlight the importance of factors that do not fit well with neo-imperial and -colonial frameworks because land grabs today differ in two key respects. First, contemporary land grabbing involve a much more diverse set of actors, institutions and governance practices that did not exist during the era of colonialism and imperialism (Margulis and Porter 2013). Second, many land grabs do match well earlier patterns of core-periphe fe B …”

“…There is growing evidence of land grabbing expanding into the North with Australia so far a major site of foreign investment in farmland. Fourth, the source of investors in farmland is highly diverse and extends beyond a traditionally engaged in agriculture, including states (including sovereign wealth funds) and a rang of private sector actors (e.g., agri-food corporations, commodities traders, and institutional investors) located in the North and Global South (Margulis and Porter 2013;Daniel 2012). Fifth, the available data suggests that a significant proportion of land grabbing has been to produce ' .…”

“…T authors of the PRAI built upon various international standards and best practices relevant to investment in agriculture (and investment more generally) but that is tailored specifically to address the concerns associated with contemporary land grabs with an emphasis on transparency and sustainability. An international code of conduct for investors is seen by global policymakers as critical to maintaining the political consensus on increasing investment in developing countrie agriculture (Margulis and Porter 2013). For example, the G-8 and G-20 combined have pledged $US 20 billion f 3 philanthropic actors have donated hundreds of millions to support agriculture production in the Global South.…”

How Sustainable Is Transnational Farmland Acquisition in Ethiopia? Lessons Learned from the Benishangul-Gumuz Region

“…Most of the recent literature highlight the term "land grabbing" as a contemporary phenomenon caused by the combined effects of the global stock market crash and the food and energy crisis of 2008/2009 [1][2][3][4]. However, the term was also mentioned in earlier works by Karl Marx for the first time in the context of the enclosures of England: "The laborers are first driven from the land, and then come the sheep.…”

“…In Ethiopia, as opposed to other countries (e.g., Canada etc., [4,15,[53][54][55]), investors cannot lease as much land as they want. There is a limit both in terms of land size and land lease period, while land is leased to investors depending on the area of investment and other terms (Tables 3 and 4).…”