The last two years have seen a huge amount of academic, policy-making and media interest in the increasingly contentious issue of 'land grabbing' - the large-scale acquisition of land in the global South. It is a phenomenon against which locals seem defenseless, and one about which multilateral organizations such as the World Bank as well as civil-society organizations and action NGOs have become increasingly vocal. This in-depth and empirically diverse volume - taking in case studies from across Africa, Asia and Latin America - takes a step back from the hype to explore a number of key question: Does the 'Global Land Grab' actually exist? If so, what is new about it? And what, beyond the immediately visible dynamics and practices, are the real problems? A comprehensive and much-needed intervention on one of the most hotly contested but little-understood issues facing Global South countries today.

Introduction : the global land grab hype-- and why it is important to move beyond /Mayke Kaag and Annelies Zoomers -- Modernizing the periphery : citizenship and Ethiopia's new agricultural investment policies / George Schoneveld and Maru Shete -- Large-scale land acquisitions in Tanzania : a critical analysis of practices and dynamics / Jumanne Abdallah ... [and others] -- Kenya and the 'global land grab' : a view from below / Jacqueline M. Klopp and Odenda Lumumba -- The rapid expansion of genetically modified soy production into the Chaco region of Argentina / Lucia Goldfarb and Annelies Zoomers -- Transnational land investment in Costa Rica : tracing residential tourism and its implications for development / Femke van Noorloos -- Water grabbing in the Andean region : illustrative cases from Peru and Ecuador / Rutgerd Boelens, Antonio Gaybor and Jan Hendriks -- Land governance and oil palm development : examples from Riau Province, Indonesia / Ari Susanti and Suseno Budidarsono -- Vietnam in the debate on land grabbing : conversion of agricultural land for urban expansion and hydropower development / Pham Huu Ty, Nguyen Quang Phuc and Guus van Westen -- 'Land grabbing' in Cambodia : land rights in a post-conflict setting / Michelle McLinden Nuijen, Men Prachvuthy and Guus van Westen -- Beyond the Gulf state investment hype : the case of Indonesia and the Philippines / Gerben Nooteboom and Laurens Bakker -- Tracing the dragon's footsteps : a deconstruction of the discourse on China's foreign land investments / Peter Ho and Irna Hofman -- Conclusion : beyond the global land grab hype-- ways forward in research and action / Annelies Zoomers and Mayke Kaag.