Micro-geopolitics: : capitalising security in Laos's golden quadrangle

• Autores: Michael B. Dwyer
• Localización: Geopolitics, ISSN-e 1557-3028, Vol. 19, Nº. 2, 2014, págs. 377-405
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • Enclosure, dispossession and displacement loom large in current debates about the recent boom in transnational farmland deals, and about Chinese agribusiness for export in particular. Often under-examined, however, are the ways that legacies of geopolitical conflict shape the inevitably uneven distribution of enclosure, dispossession and displacement. This paper constructs a case of these �micro-geopolitical� legacies by examining a Chinese rubber planting �promotion� project in northwestern Laos�s emerging �Golden Quadrangle� development region. It argues that longstanding concerns about security inform the ways that local authorities deploy investment projects that are otherwise seen as examples of �foreign� land grabbing. Further, it shows that while the geographical aims of foreign agribusiness mesh with state-mediated resettlement efforts (a darker spin on the narrative of �win-win� cooperation), these activities often precede current land deals rather than result from them. Chinese agribusiness in Laos�s upland interior thus appears less as a driver of displacement than a means for attempting to secure in place a particular (if precarious) configuration of population and security.