State-Society-Corporate Interactions: Communal Entanglements to Protect Local Tenure Rights in Special Economic Zones in Africa and Asia

Paper Abstract: States in Asia and Africa have deployed Special Economic Zones (SEZs) as the strategic engine to reduce poverty and accelerate economic growth. According to the Asian Development Bank data, a majority of SEZs in the world are located in Asia. However, the African Economic Zones Outlook in 2021 estimated that nearly 150,000 hectares of land had already been dedicated for SEZ projects in the continent, and targeted investment continued to rise. Despite the establishment of these SEZs, states are struggling to boost concrete achievements, using corporate land concessions, among other incentives, to drive SEZs towards economic goals. The status and controversies of SEZs around ancestral or communal domains with complex land use ownership and historical management have become precarious, where the states’ interest in attracting corporate investors could lead to the eviction of family farmers and smallholders. Civil societies and local communities have become more vocal in raising their concerns over the infringement of customary tenure rights and the lack of local involvement in the establishment and management of SEZs. Employing a comparative approach, this paper presentation investigates state-society-corporate interactions through the struggles of land basis in Senegal and Thailand. Specifically, I will explore how local communities and civil society actors engage and mobilize to expand their influence over land acquisition and exert tenure rights. In these aspects, Sandiara SEZ in Senegal and Chiang Khong SEZ in Thailand demonstrated unique and complementary cases that show how communal entanglements in customary land practices have manifested to influence sustainable and inclusive development.