Consultation in Large-Scale Land Acquisitions: An Evaluation of Three Cases in Mali

Consultation is widely recognized as an important aspect of fair land deals; however, in terms of tangible instructions, this aspect remains unspecific. We develop a framework for consultation in the case of land acquisitions and analyze proposals for consultation contained in voluntary guidelines and private governance instruments as well as de jure and-by way of three case studies-de facto consultative processes in Mali. We acknowledge that consultations take place in complicated settings of power relations that determine the aims of consultation. In countries with serious background injustice, regulatory changes that alleviate these inequities are necessary before implementing land acquisitions.