Regardless whether intended for infrastructure development, urban renewal, or agricultural projects, eviction is a defining feature in states’ transition, and has for long also been a source of contention. Simultaneously, in recent years, the compensation for expropriations in certain regions in China, for instance, has significantly increased, at times leading to instant millionaires” (or baofuhu), households that have become wealthy overnight. This, in turn, has also incited new problems as those expropriated may have trouble adjusting to their newly acquired riches, while the increased compensation generates disputes over entitlements.

Against this backdrop, this project aims to understand how the expropriation of farmers and citizens weakens the credibility of Chinese state-led development, as well as of that of other selected states around the world.