Linda Engström

My overall research focus is Swedish and global development policy, its discourses, and practical effects on rural East Africa. With a background as a policy advisor, I also work to bridge the gap between research and policy development, for example, by representing the department in the executive steering group of SweDev - a network aiming to build networks between development researchers and between research and development practice.

My research on development policy discourses and implications for local communities in rural East Africa has a strong focus on neoliberalism and the impact of market solutions on land governance, social justice, and equality. It includes questions about who has access to land, how and why, and who, among companies, state actors, smallholder farmers, and pastoralists, benefit and who are disadvantaged by aid projects. One key focus is exploring effects of development projects that are never implemented or are discontinued.