Description: "In Southeast Asia reversals of earlier agrarian reforms have rolled back "land-to-the-tiller" policies created in the wake of Cold War-era revolutions. This trend, marked by increased land concentration and the promotion of export-oriented agribusiness at the expense of smallholder farmers, exposes the convergence of capitalist relations and state agendas that expand territorial control within and across national borders. Through the lens of land capitalization, Turning Land into Capital examines the contradictions produced by superimposing twenty-first-century neoliberal projects onto diverse landscapes etched by decades of war and state socialism. Chapters in the book explore geopolitics, legacies of colonialism, ideologies of development, and strategies to achieve land justice in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. The resulting picture reveals the place-specific interactions of state and market ideologies, regional geopolitics, and local elites in concentrating control over land"--
Brief description: Kevin Woods is a fellow at the East-West Center, Honolulu, Hawai'i.
Review Quotes:
"A highly readable, insightful volume on land politics across the Mekong region today. Featuring detailed case studies, and grounded in a solid political ecological perspective, it is an essential read for scholars across the social sciences interested in the region. Additionally, it is extremely insightful for scholars who are thinking about land governance from multiple scales and comparatively across regions."
-- "Journal of Anthropological Research"