Rural resource grabs or necessary inward investment? The politics of land and water in Africa

What has happened since the furore broke over the corporate land rush in Africa? Field-based research has exposed new realities that challenge the linear suggestions of a ‘grab’. As the process unfolds and our understanding deepens, the single narrative of the ‘land grab’ fractures into multiple messy elements. New perspectives have emerged, which reinforce the view that such a grab is underway, yet complicate our understanding of who is doing this, why, how, where and with what results. At the same time, a ‘governance rush’ has seen a proliferation of international frameworks that try to regulate, rather than stop, corporate and elite acquisitions of African land and water.