Different Regions, Different Reasons? Comparing Chinese land-consuming outward investments in Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa | Land Portal

Informações sobre recurso

Date of publication: 
Dezembro 2015
Resource Language: 
ISBN / Resource ID: 
MLRF:2166
Pages: 
i-iii, 1-20

Research indicates that key parameters of “land grabbing” differ across regions (e.g., ILC 2012) – particularly in view of who invests and/or when the bulk of investments occurred. At the same time, my review of the “land grab” literature since 2008 reveals that hardly any comparative assessments of “land grabbing” from a home country perspective exist that study whether and/or in which way and why “land grabs” of a single investor country differ across regions. This paper assesses and compares the main empirical characteristics of Chinese land acquisitions in Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa since 2000 from a home country perspective. It addresses two questions: Firstly, the paper comparatively assesses the main empirical characteristics of how these investments occur, regarding the sectoral composition, actor constellations, timelines, and the role of land in both regions. On this basis, secondly, it studies whether and in which way China applies different rationales and strategies in these two regions, comparing significant ideologies, foreign policies, political economies, and institutions that have been identified during the assessment to play a role in how and why they take these “land grabs” occur. The data collection and assessment will be done by way of systematic process tracing and a comparative research design focusing on the two target regions from a home country perspective. This approach allows me to identify similarities and differences between Chinese regional “grabs”; as well as deliberate on the geopolitical dimension of Chinese land-consuming outward FDI more broadly.

Autores e editores

Author(s), editor(s), contributor(s): 

Goetz, Ariane

Publisher(s): 

The Land Deal Politics Initiative (LDPI) is a network of the research programme of Political Economy of Resources, Environment and Population (PER) of the International Institute of Social Studies in The Hague, Part of Erasmus University Rotterdam.


The aim of LDPI is for a broad framework encompassing the political economy, political ecology and political sociology of land deals.


Our general framework is based on answering 6 key questions:


  • Who owns what?
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The Regional Center for Social Science and Sustainable Development (RCSD) was established in 1998 at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University, Thailand in response to the need for integration of social science and natural science knowledge in order to gain a better understanding of sustainable development issues in upper mainland Southeast Asia. RCSD has, since that time, striven to become a truly regional center for sustainable development issues, linking graduate training and research to development policy and practice.

The Transnational Institute (TNI) is an international research and advocacy institute committed to building a just, democratic and sustainable world. For more than 40 years, TNI has served as a unique nexus between social movements, engaged scholars and policy makers.


The Transnational Institute (TNI) is an international research and advocacy institute committed to building a just, democratic and sustainable world.


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The purpose of the Mekong Land Research Forum online site is to provide structured access to published and unpublished research on land issues in the Mekong Region. It is based on the premise that debates and decisions around land governance can be enhanced by drawing on the considerable volume of research, documented experience and action-based reflection that is available.

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