The Introduction uses Monsanto’s 2005 attempt to block Argentine soybean meal shipments in European ports to frame the book’s central puzzle: how multinational agribusiness firms leverage their control over technology and export channels to influence policy and shape the distribution of rents from the commodity boom. It situates Argentina’s soy‑led recovery after the 2002 crisis, the escalation of distributive conflicts within the agricultural value chain and with the Kirchner governments, and presents the core claim that the structural power of traders and input suppliers constrains state autonomy. The section motivates a value‑chain perspective centered on structural and instrumental business power, explains the focus on intellectual property, trade, and environmental regulation, and outlines a qualitative research design based on within‑case comparison and 55 interviews.