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Planet: Critical

The Age of Territorial Expansion | Michael Albertus

Mar 6, 2025
48:41

Our borders are changing.

Russia wants Ukraine, China wants Taiwan, Israel wants Palestine, and Trump wants Greenland. We are in the beginning of an age of territorial expansion, as nations seek to shore up more resources, wealth and power by acquiring land. I’m joined by Michael Albertus, a Professor in Political Science at the University of Chicago, to discuss the history of land as an asset, and what a return to colonial and imperial policies of invasion will look like over the coming years.

We also discuss local and national resistance around the world, delving into the universality of our desire to protect what we call home from extraction and exploitation. Mike reveals the land restitution policies in South Africa and I discuss my recent work with communities in Colombia who are holding off multinational mining companies from tearing up their land. To learn more, get a copy of Mike’s latest book, Land Power: Who Has It, Who Doesn’t, and How That Determines the Fate of Societies.

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