In his recently published book Upland Geopolitics, Mike Dwyer defies simplistic understandings of the global land rush as the result of a gap in local governance that savvy investors exploit. He convincingly argues that the patterns and dynamics of land grabbing in the Global South are complex and must be understood through an in-depth analysis of the intersection of investment dynamics, intrastate politics, and historical pathways. Ultimately, he shows how land is not inherently ready for investment but is made “socially available” to investors by disarming alternative land claims.
Based upon in-depth, ethnographic research supplemented by follow-up visits, Dwyer explains these patterns of land investment with an impressive degree of empirical depth and rigor. After introducing the political-economic dynamics of road development and rubber enclosure in northwestern Laos, he takes the reader on a historical tour to trace the events and processes that shaped the contemporary geopolitics of the...
