This chapter provides the conceptual foundation for the book by discussing two schools of thought that are significant when defining and conceptualising politicspolitics, namely the “arena or site” approach and processual approach. Understanding these two approaches to politics provides a useful avenue for the conceptualisation of politics, not only in this chapter but for all the chapters in the book. This study expands on these two schools of thought about politics in the domain of landland and conservationland and conservation. The chapter also engages in a brief (though in-depth) discussion about the nexus between the politics of landpolitics of land (who has property rightsproperty rights over a particular piece of land) and conservationconservation (i.e. how powerpower dynamics are expressed in nature conservationnature conservation projects). The chapter paints a picture that shows how politics and land are inextricably intertwined, but importantly, also how land and conservation are interconnected. The last section of this chapter provides the aim and rationale of the book and concludes by giving the structure of the book.