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Legal Dispossession: State Strategies and Selectivities in the Expansion of Indonesian Palm Oil and Agrofuel Production

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  • Melanie Pichler

Abstract

type="main"> This article examines the role of the state in the appropriation and control of land in Indonesian palm oil and agrofuel production. Drawing on political ecology and critical state and hegemony theory, it focuses particularly on the legal state strategies that support the hegemonic project of agro-industrial and export-oriented palm oil and agrofuel production. The article analyses the structural, strategic and spatial selectivities — the mechanisms of marginalization and privilege — that accompany the strategies the state employs. Three important strategies are discussed, namely the codification of land ownership, the concentration of land possession and the valorization of natural resources in the context of de- and recentralization. The article concludes that these legal state strategies represent an important means to organize and protect a large-scale palm oil project as they succeed in universalizing dominant interests whilst at the same time (partially) integrating subaltern interests.

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  • Melanie Pichler, 2015. "Legal Dispossession: State Strategies and Selectivities in the Expansion of Indonesian Palm Oil and Agrofuel Production," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 46(3), pages 508-533, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:devchg:v:46:y:2015:i:3:p:508-533
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/dech.12162
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Murnaghan, Kitty, 2017. "A comprehensive evaluation of the EU's biofuel policy: From biofuels to agrofuels," IPE Working Papers 81/2017, Berlin School of Economics and Law, Institute for International Political Economy (IPE).
    2. Anke Schaffartzik & Melanie Pichler, 2017. "Extractive Economies in Material and Political Terms: Broadening the Analytical Scope," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(7), pages 1-17, June.
    3. Bastos Lima, Mairon G. & Kmoch, Laura, 2021. "Neglect paves the way for dispossession: The politics of “last frontiers” in Brazil and Myanmar," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    4. Johanna Kramm & Melanie Pichler & Anke Schaffartzik & Martin Zimmermann, 2017. "Societal Relations to Nature in Times of Crisis—Social Ecology’s Contributions to Interdisciplinary Sustainability Studies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(7), pages 1-12, June.
    5. Hamilton-Hart, Natasha, 2017. "The Legal Environment and Incentives for Change in Property Rights Institutions," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 167-176.

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