Unregulated Land Grab Through Legal Processes : A review of the different claims to land

The rise and deepening of economic globalization has highlighted a closer connection between international arrangements that governs global capital flow on the one hand, and acquisition of land and natural resources on the other. These shifts of political economy underpin how international investment law has created contrasting social dimensions of how land rights remain embedded in many societies. 6 As national and international regulations reflect the governance of land, the legitimacy to mediate among competing land claims will depend much on how these regulations can recognize the different values that society and actors attaches to land. Accordingly, this research will examine the multilevel system of governance covering the growing actions of commercialized land relations in developing countries. By looking at the interface between smallholder’s rights to land and large-scale land deals there is a growing concern that this relationship creates asymmetric rights in favor of the investor. With a closer inspection, it is also crucial to understand the host state’s facilitation of the investment as it determines to a high degree the outcome of land allocation processes