Land Grabbing analysieren: Ansatzpunkte für eine politisch-ökologische Perspektive am Beispiel Äthiopiens

Abstract

Land Grabbing: Starting Points for a Political Ecology Analysis of Land Grabbing in Ethiopia.

Abstract

Based on social theories of political ecology, this article develops a new analytical approach to understanding contemporary processes of land grabbing, shedding new light on the complexities of both global and local changes in land ownership relations that are currently taking place around the world. The authors maintain that contemporary land use, distribution and conflicts are moulded by history and that decisions over the use and distribution of land cannot be separated from the socio-political contexts from which they have emerged. Three interlinked analytical elements are identified as central to a political ecology perspective on land grabbing: 1) the historicity and contextuality of land use, 2) categories of social structure, and 3) political relations of power and domination. Using the example of land politics in Ethiopia, this article illustrates how such an analysis can be formulated and what insights it allows into current cases of land grabbing.