Reflections on How State–Civil Society Collaborations Play out in the Context of Land Grabbing in Argentina

Abstract

We examine collaborations between the state and civil society in the context of land grabbing in Argentina. Land grabbing provokes many governance challenges, which generate new social arrangements. The incentives for, limitations to, and contradictions inherent in these collaborations are examined. We particularly explore how the collaborations between the provincial government of Santiago del Estero and non-government organizations (NGOs) played out. This province has experienced many land grabs, especially for agriculture and livestock production. In response to protest and political pressure, two provincial agencies were established to assist communities in relation to land tenure issues (at different stages). Even though many scholars consider state–civil society collaborations to be introduced by nation states only to gain and maintain political power, we show how rural communities are actually supported by these initiatives. By empowering rural populations, active NGOs can make a difference to how the negative implications of land grabbing are addressed. However, NGOs and government agencies are constrained by global forces, local political power plays, and stakeholder struggles.

What Drives Landowners to Resist Selling Their Land? Insights from Ethical Capitalism and Landowners’ Perceptions

“…Based on the land grabbing literature, authors distinguished a set of eight narratives, most often interrelated and overlapping, that pose ethical considerations linked to land transactions. These are "Agricultural land loss to urban sprawl-land grabbing" narrative [56,57]; "Environment depletion-land grabbing" narrative [58][59][60]; "Weak solidarity among farmers" narrative [61,62]; "Questioning of business ethics-land grabbing" narrative [35]; "Food insecurity-land grabbing" narrative [9,63,64]; "Lack of collaborative governance-land grabbing" narrative [14,65,66]; "Future overall gravity-land grabbing narrative" [14,[67][68][69]; and "Xenophobia-land grabbing" narrative [70,71].…”

Ethnic tourism in China: tourism-related (dis)empowerment of Miao villages in Hunan province

“…There is no NGO presence in either location. The lack of NGOs in China is common (Bao & Sun, 2007), in contrast to many other countries where NGOs play a critical role in supporting communities to deal with development issues and cope with emergencies (Busscher et al, 2019). Therefore, when the Village Committee fails to speak up for the villagers, there are no other bodies that will collect their concerns and represent their interests.…”

Rural Landscapes—Challenges and Solutions to Landscape Governance

“…The contribution of Busscher at al. in this Special Issue on land grabbing in Argentina clearly shows the intricacy of the ongoing processes [8]. The second reason has to do with changes within the public agencies towards more market-oriented approaches, shrinking budgets and reduced public service, which leave the provision of public services to networks rather than specific public bodies.…”