Resistance to extractivism: pin-prick land grabs and ‘failed’ corporate land deals

Resistance to extractivist land grabs is diverse in character and trajectory, at least those in Colombia, Ethiopia, Myanmar and China. We argue that this diversity is influenced by the social structures and institutions upon which land grabs unfold. These conditions also shape how land grabs take shape across time and space. We have identified two broad types of land grabs in terms of status: operational corporate and failed corporate land deals; and three broad types in terms of scale: large-scale corporate land grabs, and non-corporate medium-scale and pin-prick land grabs. Most studies on resistance to land grabs engage with operational corporate large-scale cases, while the studies are thin on the corporate ‘failed’ land deals and medium-scale and pin-prick land grabs. Our paper demonstrates not only the uneven contention and outcomes of resistance, but also the patterns in the shifts in the forms of struggles, as we also specified the difference between struggles against land grabs of demarcated plots, and against the land rush more generally. Perspectives from across diverse cases in terms of land grab status and scale provide important insights into the political struggles against extractivism and capitalism more broadly.