Dispossessed: Exploring the Factors That Enable Post-Disaster Land Grabs

Abstract: The objective of this thesis is to better understand what factors produce an enabling environment for land grabs after a disaster. Looking at eight selected case studies, this research tests the role of land tenure security, private capital investment and global financial institutions, and gender. The factors are tested with a mixed methodology: proxy indicators are analyzed quantitatively, and case study literature is reviewed qualitatively. This research found that none of these factors were able to explain why post-disaster land grabs happen in some places, and not others. This finding suggests that either the current research does not yet understand what factors produce an enabling environment for post-disaster land grabs or there are insufficient means to test the veracity of the hypothesis. Future research is needed to better understand this phenomenon that analyses land grabbing as a complex, emerging result.