Making Land Acquisitions Responsible through Soft Law: The Limitations and Potentials of the Responsible Agricultural Investment Initiative

Land acquisitions have increased significantly over the last decade and claims have been made that these actions are both neo-colonial and wrong. Others claim that there are benefits to be gained for all parties, directly and indirectly involved. When land is being sold or leased from poor farmers to rich corporations what are the potentials and what are the limitations? Are livelihoods, displacement and food insecurity, new employment opportunities, increased revenue and FDI, and transfer of technology reality in the same process? This thesis discusses land acquisitions as a phenomenon and puts forward the controversial debate that has arisen. It pays particular attention to one of the responses and proposals made in order to make land acquisitions responsible, namely the Responsible Agricultural Investment (RAI). This initiative is examined from a soft law perspective in order to evaluate the probability of RAI serving its purpose. The conceptual framework used is a combined framework which incorporates two dimensions to be able to examine RAI in its form, whether RAI as a concept of soft law possess leverage, but also in its content, whether the principles of RAI are relevant. This thesis is conducted mainly based on secondary material aside from the RAI initiative which serves as the primary material