The question of how and when impacted populations can influence economic outcomes has received little but growing attention in the study of social movements. This book explores how contentious agency based on expanding democratic rights over resource exploitation, has started to counter the problems of the global land grab. It analyzes the political games, processes and strategies used by resistance movements to large-scale resource exploitation to understand contemporary global land grab and its future. Scrutinizing the politics of industrial tree plantation, particularly in Brazil, Kroger develops a theory explaining how economic outcomes are determined in resource politics. The theory is applied to assess the role of peasants in curbing the expansion of pulpwood, oil palm, carbon sink, and wood-based biomass plantations. The systematic comparison of several cases illustrates the broader principles and problems endemic to the global political economy. This book will be of strong interest to students and scholars of international relations, international political economy, environmental studies, environmental politics, sociology and social movement studies.