Special Issue
QA – Rivista dell’Associazione Rossi–Doria
Call for Papers
Large scale foreign acquisitions of land in developing countries.
Risks, opportunities and new actors.
Edited by
Nadia Cuffaro
Department of Economics
University of Cassino
cuffaro@unicas.it
Giorgia Giovannetti
University of Florence and
European University Institute
giorgia.giovannetti@unifi.it
Salvatore Monni
Department of Economics
Roma Tre University
monni@uniroma3.it
QA - Rivista dell’Associazione Rossi-Doria invites the submission of manuscripts (in
English) addressing the issue of large scale land acquisitions by foreign investors in
developing countries.
Rationale
The last few years have seen a surge of interest in foreign acquisitions of land
(mainly for agricultural use) in developing countries. This wave of foreign direct
investments (FDI) in land, dominated by international investors other than “traditional”
ones, has led to fears of “land grabbing”. This concern is motivated by several
reasons. First, the deals involve a crucial asset, land, usually on a very large scale
and predominantly in the context of complex and often unclear structures of property
rights; second, a number of weak stakeholders may have insufficient “voice” vis-à-vis
their governments; third, governments may have weak planning and regulatory
abilities especially vis-à-vis international investors. Last, but not least, foreign
investors are often oriented to the agricultural production for export to their home
markets.
The phenomenon of land acquisitions by foreign investors emerged mainly through
media reports and then prompted case studies analysis. There is, however, the need
to improve the understanding of recent trends through research in a number of
domains including: the systematic analysis of regional/country data; the determinants
of FDI flows (such as: investments profitability; location choice; land internalisation);
the determinants, characteristics and impact of the increasing activity of private
sector finance in land acquisitions; the specific socioeconomic implications of
acquisitions on a large scale; the possible patterns of regulation, including self
regulation through corporate social responsibility; the merits of alternative business
models for large scale investments in agriculture.
Main Topics of Interest:

Analysis of country/regional data and trends

New Actors: the financial sector and land in developing countries. This section
will include invited papers by Lorenzo Cotula (IIED) and Ward Anseeuw
(CIRAD)

Socio-economic impact of large acquisitions

Regulation of large scale investments in land

Alternative business models
Timeline & Planning:
◦ Deadline for paper submission:
15.05.2012
◦ Feedback from reviewers:
10.07.2012
◦ Revised manuscripts:
20.09.2012
◦ Acceptance notification:
20.10.2012
Submissions should be addressed to one of the editors (Subject: QA_Land_Call)
For authors:
All manuscripts should be preferably in Open Document Format (Word format is also
allowed). All manuscripts will be subject to the usual high standards of peer review at
QA - Rivista dell’ Associazione Rossi-Doria. Each paper will undergo double blind
review.
There is no standard length for articles but 8,000 words, including notes and
references, is a useful target. For other author guidelines and for previous issues of
the journal please see
http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/sommario.asp?IDRivista=25&lingua=en
Feel free to contact one of the editors if any further information is needed.