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

  • Jessica Milgroom
  • Wageningen University and Research Centre

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

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.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)585-606
Number of pages22
JournalJournal of Peasant Studies
Volume42
Issue number3-4
Early online date16 Mar 2015
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 4 Jul 2015
Externally publishedYes

Funding

I acknowledge the United States National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship Program, the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area working group of the Animal and Human Health for the Environment And Development (AHEAD-GLTFCA) and the Interdisciplinary Research and Education Fund (INREF) research programme ‘Competing claims on natural resources: overcoming mismatches in resource use through a multi-scale perspective’, Wageningen University, the Netherlands, for funding of the field research. I also give thanks to The Land Deal Politics Initiative (LDPI) for funding for the writing of this paper.

Keywords

  • green grab
  • land grab
  • Limpopo National Park
  • Mozambique
  • policy enactment
  • resettlement

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Cultural Studies
  • Anthropology
  • Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)

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