Policy processes of a land grab: at the interface of politics ‘in the air’ and politics ‘on the ground’ in Massingir, Mozambique

The creation and enforcement of policies have been proposed as necessary to protect rural dwellers from dispossession by land grabs. Failing to consider the influence of the micro-politics of the policy implementation phase, these policies are insufficient. Based on an in-depth case study from southern Mozambique of a collision between a green grab and a land grab, this paper describes how two policies were used, first to facilitate a land grab and then to rescind the land concession. At a shifting intersection between politics ‘in the air’ and politics ‘on the ground’, convergence and later divergence among powerful groups shaped the space for policy enactment.