Book review: Dispossession without development: land grabs in neoliberal India by Michael Levien

In Dispossession without Development: Land Grabs in Neoliberal India, Michael Levien examines how the shift from state-directed capitalism to neoliberalism in India from the 1990s has led to a new regime of dispossession, in which land becomes ‘for the market’ rather than ‘for production’ and rural residents lose their land and livelihoods. Using the case study of Rajpura to evidence the consequences of Rajasthan’s transition to a ‘land broker state’, this rich, theoretically engaged book is sure to remain at the centre of academic discussions of development, dispossession, resistance and neoliberalism, writes Nikhil Deb.