Presentation short abstract

Romania exemplifies land grabbing in Eastern Europe where the post-socialist transition enabled land alienation and concentration. Using the concept of pin-prick land grabbing (Borras et al. 2024), we highlight the power dynamics that have facilitated large-scale land grabs.

Presentation long abstract

Romania stands as a key example of land grabbing in Eastern Europe: the post-socialist transition

to free markets has materialized in a myriad of factors that led to the loss of rural social fabric and

thus, land alienation and concentration. Using the concept of pin-prick land grabbing (Borras et al.

2024), we draw attention to how various, insidious social relations and power dynamics among

stakeholders, from peasants to officials and economic elites, have led to small-scale land deals

which eventually have facilitated large-scale land grabbing. By bringing to the surface these

´hidden in plain sight´ forms of violence, we show the structural complexity of the phenomenon,

putting forward the need for an environmental justice approach to land grabbing. Empirically, this

study builds on the long-term research work of the authors and forty-one semi-structured

interviews in Hartibaciu Valley (Central Romania) conducted during 2024. We base our argument

on testimonies of the lived experience of those who felt forced to give up land, animals and small-scale

agriculture in the last twenty years of post-socialism. The transfer of land to corporations is

part of a pattern of systemic erosion of rural livelihoods and precarisation of rural life.