Abstract:
Using a case study of Prey Lang Community Network (PLCN) in Cambodia, this article adds to emerging literature on local responses to land grabbing. While much of this literature has focused on political opportunity structures, this article looks at the agency of local groups organizing in response to land grabbing. Noting that organization and connections have been ‘missing links’ in the literature, the authors draw on thinking on collective action and social networking. Their findings highlight the importance of identity politics in the development of movements responding to land grabbing. Transnational discourses and external support also play a significant role in local responses to land grabbing in general, and in the modest success achieved by the PLCN in particular. All this complicates the traditional understanding of political opportunity structures and calls for a more dynamic approach.