Land grabbing, land dispossession, land rush: what can we learn from Colombia?

What can we learn about global land grabbing from one of its hotspots: Colombia? Conversely, what can Colombia learn from global dynamics? We examine key debates by analyzing the Colombian case, showing how global and national processes affirm, complicate, and challenge views on land deals, labor, and capital. Colombia’s particular configuration of corporate power, narco-capital, and displacement expands current understandings of actors and mechanisms in land grabs. In turn, global perspectives shed light on Colombia by situating it within broader dynamics of financialization, speculative investment, and labor fragmentation.