Since the 1990s, the interests of local populations have become increasingly interlinked with various global interests, such as the search for land for agro-industrial production, the protection of Indigenous peoples, forests, biodiversity and the climate, the fight against terrorism and the search for secure borders, and the demand for licit and illicit goods—from metals to energy resources to narcotics. In these circumstances, local populations see their livelihood and security often overlooked, enter a spiral of short-lived informal survival strategies, and become vulnerable to the criminalization of their social and economic reproduction. This chapter assesses the effects of national and global governance from the bottom-up perspective of Brazilian peripheries.