Land acquisitions, or ‘land grabbing’, has become a key research topic among scholars interested in agrarian change, development, and the environment. In the 6th issue of International Development Policy, edited by Christophe Gironde, Christophe Golay and Peter Messerli, a global cast of scholars and practitioners put ‘land grabbing’ into specific historical and institutional contexts.

They also offer the first major collection on the subject with a focus on South-East Asia—a region that has attracted relatively little attention to date—and a human rights analysis of the phenomenon, examining the potential and limits of human rights mechanisms aimed at preventing and mitigating the negative consequences of land grabbing.

The publication is available here.