Research on accounting in less developed countries (LDCs) has grown considerably over the past twenty years. This is welcome for often such work has been marginalized and labelled esoteric despite most people living in LDCs. Their accounting needs and concerns are as pressing–if not more so–as in rich countries. Moreover, LDCs form part of the mosaic of world trade and rich countries can learn from them, for example on poverty reduction and reconciling ethnic tensions.

This introduction to the volume addresses some of the complexities surrounding land acquisition in contemporary Bangladesh and India. By interrogating four conceptual issues concerning current land expropriation, we seek to develop some common ground and to reveal important questions addressed in the articles and beyond. First, we discuss recent theoretical approaches to dispossession and land loss and secondly, the ideological apparatus of contemporary dispossessions—the discursive formations of ‘development’ and ‘security’. Thirdly, by contrasting the historical trajectories of both countries, we also explore the coalitions between states, corporations and the military. Finally, we discuss the ways in which violence and security have played a changing role in displacement.

Our report highlights the challenges development aid donors can face in Bangladesh’s post-colonial culture as well as substantiates on how lack of quality control in an aid project can influence the local values, beliefs, and subjective experiences. Our report also suggests that improving quality control, such as Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E), can generate greater impact of development aid resources.

Despite being forcefully challenged, neoliberalism has proven remarkably resilient. In the first years since the crisis erupted, the bulk of the alternative literature pointed to continued growth in the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) and in other big emerging market countries to affirm the necessary role for the state in sustaining capitalist development. New devel- opmental economists have consequently reasserted themselves. Their proposals converged into a broader demand for global Keynesianism (Patomäki, 2012) – a demand that is proving to be less and less realistic in the face of a deepening global economic crisis. Advocates of ‘reform and reproduce’ – be they new developmental or neo-Keynesian – share deep commitments to capitalism and the subordination of workers to the needs of accumulation. In contrast, this book represents a collaborative attempt by a group of Marxian-inspired scholars to explore real and potential alternatives to the exploitative reality of neoliberal capitalism.