Repercussions of Chinese land deals in South America: vectors of mobilization and domestic institutions

Abstract

Introduction: The article analyses domestic reactions to Chinese land deals in Brazil, Argentina and Bolivia, and how such attempts have affected these countries’ regulatory framework for foreign land acquisitions. Materials and Methods: Mobilizations against these deals are examined with focus on their internal composition of social forces, and the framings which they produce in order to press for regulatory restrictions. Results: The emergence of protest in Argentina and Brazil, relative to the lack of opposition in Bolivia, is explained through a most similar case design, emphasizing differences in the rural socio-economic structure and composition of capital within the agricultural sector as central explanatory factors, accounting for the variation of the outcome in the cases examined. Discussion: With point of departure in the debate about global land investment, the article contributes to understanding how foreign investment is accommodated within different modes of commodity dependent development.

The Agrarian Conflicts and Food Crises Nexus in Contemporary Latin America

“…One distinguishing factor in Latin America is the relatively lax restrictions imposed on foreign investors, particularly agribusinesses and large corporations, regarding land acquisition and resource exploitation. Many Latin American countries have facilitated the entry of foreign investors, creating favorable conditions for them to acquire land and profit from agricultural investments (Scoppola and Prontera, 2020; Søndergaard, 2020).…”

Proyectos chinos en infraestructura en Argentina y mecanismos de acaparamiento de tierras: un análisis desde la gobernanza de la tierra

“…En América Latina, la intensificación del comercio de commodities con China y la relevancia adquirida por los sectores primario-extractivos como destino de inversión, fue complementada con intentos de inversores chinos de controlar tierras en diversos países de la región. La bibliografía señaló que diversos obstáculos alrededor de esos proyectos dificultaron su ejecución, lo que evidenció el reducido alcance del acaparamiento de tierras de China en la región (Jie & Myers, 2016;Oliveira, 2017;Søndergaard, 2020). Asimismo, estudios destacaron que China reemplazó su interés por la tierra hacia nuevos sectores que le Revista 96.2 permitan incrementar su control sobre los flujos de recursos naturales latinoamericanos, tales como la cadena de valor agrícola (Mc Kay et al, 2016).…”