Development and underdevelopment: an examination of land grabbing in the DRC

Abstract: As foreign investments are conducted to a larger extent on the African continent and governments as well as corporations from the Western world are profiting from the countries’ resources, cases of exploitation of vulnerable groups are likewise being observed. These cases indicate how parties with great, economic power occasionally use their superior position when negotiating with, for example, rural communities that lack any means to oppose them. By a single case study of land grabbing in the DRC, this thesis will problematize foreign investments in the agricultural sector of developing countries and the consequences that may be accompanying them.