1 - Land in the Political Economy of African Development: Alternative Strategies for Reform
Corresponding Author(s) : Sam Moyo
Africa Development,
Vol. 32 No. 4 (2007): Africa Development
Abstract
Since 2000, there has been an escalation of land-related conflicts in Zimbabwe, Côte d’Ivoire, the Delta region of Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa. These con- flicts are examples of numerous national struggles for access to land in Africa and reflect the failure of the African state to address the land and development nexus on the continent. The land question in Africa is a by-product of globalised control of land, natural resources and minerals in general, reflecting incomplete decolonisation processes in ex-settler colonies along with the penchant for for- eign ‘investment’ in a neo-liberal policy framework that marginalises the rural and urban poor. Global finance capital is increasingly entangled in conflicts over land, as the exploitation of oil, minerals and natural resources expands into new African enclaves that highlight the external dimension of distorted devel- opment. These processes define the significance of land in the political economy of African development. This paper examines the complex social and political contradictions that shape land struggles, including their colonial and post-inde- pendence trajectory. The failures of neo-liberal land reforms, based on market forces and their confrontation by popular demands for redistributive reforms are discussed.
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- Adams, M., 2000, Breaking Ground: Development Aid for Land Reform, London: Overseas Development Institute.
- Amanor, K., 2003, Land and Sustainable Development in West Africa, Harare: Africa Institute for Agrarian Studies.
- Amin, S., 1972, Neocolonialism in West Africa, Hammondsworth: Penguin.
- Arrighi, G., 1973, ‘International Corporations, Labour Aristocracies, and Economic Development in Tropical Africa’, in G. Arrighi, and J. Saul, eds., Essays on the Political Economy of Africa, New York: Monthly Review Press.
- Bernstein, H., 2005, ‘Rural Land and Land Conflicts in Sub-Saharan Africa’, in S. Moyo and P. Yeros, eds., Reclaiming the Land: The Resurgence of Rural Movements in Africa, Asia and Latin America. London: Zed Books.
- Bruce, J. W., 1996, Country Profiles of Land Tenure, Madison: Africa Land Tenure Center, University of Winsconsin.
- Bryceson, D., 2000, ‘African Peasants Centrality and Marginality: Rural Labour Transformations’, in D. Bryceson, C. Kay and J. Mooji, eds., Disappearing Peasantries?: Rural Labour in Africa, Asia and Latin America, London: ITDG Publishing.
- Bryceson, D., Kay, C. and Mooji, J., eds., 2000, Disappearing Peasantries?: Rural Labour in Africa, Asia and Latin America, London: ITDG Publishing.
- Cabral, A., 1979, Unity and Struggle, New York: Monthly Review Press.
- De Soto, H., 2000, The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else. London: Black Swan.
- Delville, P.L., 1999, Harmonising Formal Law and Customary Land Rights in French-Speaking West Africa, London: International Institute for Environment and Development.
- Delville P. L., Toulmin, C., Colin, J-P., and Chauveau, J-P., 2002, Negotiating Access to Land in West Africa: A Synthesis of Findings from Research on Derived Rights Land, London: International Institute for Environment and Development.
- Eicher, M. and Rukuni, C. K., 1995, ‘Zimbabwe’s Agricultural Revolution: Lessons for Southern Africa’, in M. Rukuni and C.K. Eicher, eds., Zimbabwe’s Agricultural Revolution, Harare. University of Zimbabwe Press.
- EU, 2004, Guidelines for Support to Land Design and Land Reform Processes in Developing Countries. Final Draft for Consultation. Brussels: EU Task Force on Land Tenure.
- Fanon, F., 1961, The Wretched of the Earth, London: Penguin Books.
- Flintan, F. and Tamrat, I., 2002, ‘Spilling Blood over Water? The Case of Ethiopia’, in J. Lind and K. Sturman, eds., Scarcity and Surfeit: The Ecology of Africa’s Conflicts. Pretoria: ISS, pp. 243-319.
- Geschiere, P. and Nyamnjoh, F., 2000, ‘Capitalism and Autochthony: The Seesaw of Mobility and Belonging’ in J. Comaroff and J. L. Comaroff, eds., Millennial Capitalism and the Culture of Neo-liberalism. Durham, NC: Duke University Press., pp. 423-452.
- Ghai, D. and Radwan S., 1983, Agrarian Policies and Rural Poverty in Africa, Geneva: International Labour Organisation.
- Gibbon, P. and Neocosmos, M. 1985, ‘Some Problems in the Political Economy of “African Socialism”’, in H. Bernstein and B. Campbell, eds., Contradictions of Accumulation in Africa, London: Sage.
- Lumumba, O. and Kanyinga, K., 2003, ‘The Land Question and Sustainable Development in Kenya’. Draft paper for the Regional and World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) Dialogue Initiative: An African Perspective on Land and Sustainable Development.
- Lastarria-Cornhiel, S., 2002, ‘Concepts of Property Rights and Citizenship: Market Economy, Customary Tenure, and Gender’, presentation for Conference on Conflicts over Land and Water in Africa: Questions of Citizenship and Identity, Centre for Development Research Copenhagen, 28–29 November 2002.
- Lipton, M., 1976, Why Poor People Stay Poor: A Study of Urban Bias in World Development, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
- Mafeje, A., 1997, ‘The Agrarian Question in Southern Africa and Accumulation from Below’, SAPEM, Vol. 10, No. 5.
- Mafeje, A., 1999, ‘Imperatives and Options for Agricultural Development in Africa: Peasant or Capitalist Revolution?’, unpublished essay.
- Mafeje, A. 2003, ‘The Agrarian question, Access to Land and Peasant Responses in Sub-Saharan Africa’, UNRISD Programme papers on Civil Society and Social Movements.
- Mamdani, M., 1996, Citizens and Subjects: Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of Late Colonialism, Princetown, NJ: Princeton University Press.
- Mamdani, M., 2001, When Victims Become Killers: Colonialism, Nativism, and the Genocide in Rwanda. Princetown, NJ: Princeton University Press.
- Molomo, M.G., 2003, ‘The Land Question and Sustainable Development in Botswana’, draft paper for the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) Dialogue Initiative: An African Perspective on Land and Sustainable Development.
- Moyo, S., 1995, The Land Question in Zimbabwe, Harare: SAPES Books.
- Moyo, S., 2000, Land Reform Under Structural Adjustment in Zimbabwe: Land Use Change in Mashonaland Provinces, Uppsala: Nordiska Afrika Institutet.
- Moyo, S., 2001, ‘The Land Occupation Movement and Democratization in Zimbabwe: Contradictions of Neo-liberalism’, Millennium Journal of International Studies, Vol. 30, No. 2, pp. 311-330.
- Moyo, S., 2002, ‘Peasant Organisations and Rural Civil Society in Africa: An Introduction’, in S. Moyo and B. Romdhane, eds., Peasant Organisations and Democratisation in Africa, Dakar: CODESRIA.
- Moyo, S., 2003, ‘The Interaction of Market and Compulsory Land Acquisition Processes with Social Action in Zimbabwe’s Land Reform’, in I. Mandaza and D. Nabudere, eds., Pan Africanism and Integration in Africa, Harare: Sapes Books.
- Moyo, S., 2004, ‘Land, Food Security and Sustainable Development in Africa’, paper prepared for the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), Sustainable Development Division, Ethiopia.
- Moyo, S., 2005, ‘The Politics of Land Distribution and Race Relations in Southern Africa’, in Y. Bangura and R. Stavenhagen, eds., Racism and Public Policy, London: Palgrave Press.
- Moyo, S. and Yeros, P., 2005a, ‘Land Occupations and Land Reform in Zimbabwe: Towards the National Democratic Revolution’, in S. Moyo and P. Yeros, eds., Reclaiming the Land: The Resurgence of Rural Movements in Africa, Asia and Latin America, London: Zed Books.
- Moyo, S. and Yeros, P., 2005b, ‘Resurgence of Social Movements’, S. Moyo and P. Yeros, eds., Reclaiming the Land: The Resurgence of Rural Movements in Africa, Asia and Latin America, London: Zed Books.
- Moyo, S., 2008, African Land Questions, Agrarian Transitions and the State: Contradictions of Neo-liberal Land Reforms, Dakar: CODESRIA.
- Murombedzi, J., 1999, ‘Land Expropriation, Communal Tenure and Common Property Resource Management in Southern Africa’, The Common Property Resources Digest, October 1999.
- Negrao, J., 1999, ‘The Mozambican Land Campaign, 1997-1999’, paper presented at the Workshop on the Associative Movement, Maputo, 14 December’ (http://www.Oxfam.org.uk/landrights), 15 November 2006.
- Palmer, R., 2000, ‘The Struggles Continue: Evolving Land Policy and Tenure Reforms in Africa: Recent Policy and Implementation Process’ in C. Toulmin, C. and J. Quan, eds., Evolving Land Rights, Tenure and Policy in Sub-Saharan Africa, London: IIED.
- Palmer, R., 2002, ‘A Guide to, and Some Comments on, The World Bank’s Policy Research Report (PRR), Land Policy for Pro-Poor Growth and Development’, in Ethnic Clashes in Kenya, Nairobi: Peacenet-Kenya 2001 (www.peacenet-Kenya.org/projects/ethniclashes.htm) 15 November, 2006.
- Petras, J. and Veltmeyer, H., 2001, ‘Are Latin American Peasant Movements Still a Force for Change? Some New Paradigms Revisited’ Journal of Peasant Studies, Vol. 28, No. 2.
- Petras, J., 1997, ‘MST and Latin America: The Revival of the Peasantry as a Revolutionary Force’, Canadian Dimension, Vol, 31, No. 3.
- Platteau, J. P., 1996, ‘The Evolutionary Theory of Land Rights as Applied to Sub- Saharan Africa: A Critical Assessment’, Development and Change, Vol 27, No. 1, pp. 29-86.
- Quan, J., 2000, ‘Land Tenure, Economic Growth and Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa’, in C. Toulmin and J. Quan, 2000, Evolving Land Rights, Tenure and Policy in Sub-Saharan Africa, London: IIED, pp. 31-49.
- Rahmato, D., 1991, ‘Peasant Organisations in Africa: Constraints and Potentials’, CODESRIA Working Paper 1/91, Dakar: CODESRIA.
- Sender, J. and Johnston, D., 2004, ‘Searching for a Weapon of Mass Production in Rural Africa: Unconvincing Arguments for Land Reform’, Journal of Agrarian Change, Vol. 4, No. 1/2, pp. 142-164.
- Shivji, I., 1998, Not Yet Democracy: Reforming Land Tenure in Tanzania. Dar es Salaam: International Institute for Environmental and Development (Drylands Programme), HAKIARDHI (Land Rights Research and Resources Institute), and the Faculty of Law, University of Tanzania.
- Shivji, I. G., Moyo, S., Ncube, W. and Gunby, D., 1998. ‘Draft National Land Policy for the Government of Zimbabwe’, discussion paper, Harare: FAO and Ministry of Lands and Agriculture.
- Submarian, J., 1996, ‘Eritrea Country Profile,’ in J. W. Bruce, ed., Country Profiles of Land Tenure, Madison, WI: Africa Land Tenure Center, University of Wisconsin, pp. 164-168.
- Tsikata, D., 1991, Securing Women’s Interests within Land Tenure Reforms: Recent Debates in Tanzania. Journal of Agrarian Change, Vol. 3, No. 1/2, pp. 149-183.
- Veltmeyer, H., 1997, ‘New Social Movements in Latin America: The Dynamics of Class and Identity’, Journal of Peasant Studies, Vol. 25, No. 1.
- World Bank, 2002, Land Policy for Pro-Poor Growth and Development. Washington, DC: World Bank.
- Yeros, P., 2002a, ‘Zimbabwe and the Dilemmas of the Left’, Historical Materialism, Vol. 10, No. 2, pp. 3-15.
- Yeros, P., 2002b, ‘The Political Economy of Civilisation: Peasant-Workers in Zimbabwe and the Neocolonial World’, PhD dissertation, London School of Economics.
References
Adams, M., 2000, Breaking Ground: Development Aid for Land Reform, London: Overseas Development Institute.
Amanor, K., 2003, Land and Sustainable Development in West Africa, Harare: Africa Institute for Agrarian Studies.
Amin, S., 1972, Neocolonialism in West Africa, Hammondsworth: Penguin.
Arrighi, G., 1973, ‘International Corporations, Labour Aristocracies, and Economic Development in Tropical Africa’, in G. Arrighi, and J. Saul, eds., Essays on the Political Economy of Africa, New York: Monthly Review Press.
Bernstein, H., 2005, ‘Rural Land and Land Conflicts in Sub-Saharan Africa’, in S. Moyo and P. Yeros, eds., Reclaiming the Land: The Resurgence of Rural Movements in Africa, Asia and Latin America. London: Zed Books.
Bruce, J. W., 1996, Country Profiles of Land Tenure, Madison: Africa Land Tenure Center, University of Winsconsin.
Bryceson, D., 2000, ‘African Peasants Centrality and Marginality: Rural Labour Transformations’, in D. Bryceson, C. Kay and J. Mooji, eds., Disappearing Peasantries?: Rural Labour in Africa, Asia and Latin America, London: ITDG Publishing.
Bryceson, D., Kay, C. and Mooji, J., eds., 2000, Disappearing Peasantries?: Rural Labour in Africa, Asia and Latin America, London: ITDG Publishing.
Cabral, A., 1979, Unity and Struggle, New York: Monthly Review Press.
De Soto, H., 2000, The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else. London: Black Swan.
Delville, P.L., 1999, Harmonising Formal Law and Customary Land Rights in French-Speaking West Africa, London: International Institute for Environment and Development.
Delville P. L., Toulmin, C., Colin, J-P., and Chauveau, J-P., 2002, Negotiating Access to Land in West Africa: A Synthesis of Findings from Research on Derived Rights Land, London: International Institute for Environment and Development.
Eicher, M. and Rukuni, C. K., 1995, ‘Zimbabwe’s Agricultural Revolution: Lessons for Southern Africa’, in M. Rukuni and C.K. Eicher, eds., Zimbabwe’s Agricultural Revolution, Harare. University of Zimbabwe Press.
EU, 2004, Guidelines for Support to Land Design and Land Reform Processes in Developing Countries. Final Draft for Consultation. Brussels: EU Task Force on Land Tenure.
Fanon, F., 1961, The Wretched of the Earth, London: Penguin Books.
Flintan, F. and Tamrat, I., 2002, ‘Spilling Blood over Water? The Case of Ethiopia’, in J. Lind and K. Sturman, eds., Scarcity and Surfeit: The Ecology of Africa’s Conflicts. Pretoria: ISS, pp. 243-319.
Geschiere, P. and Nyamnjoh, F., 2000, ‘Capitalism and Autochthony: The Seesaw of Mobility and Belonging’ in J. Comaroff and J. L. Comaroff, eds., Millennial Capitalism and the Culture of Neo-liberalism. Durham, NC: Duke University Press., pp. 423-452.
Ghai, D. and Radwan S., 1983, Agrarian Policies and Rural Poverty in Africa, Geneva: International Labour Organisation.
Gibbon, P. and Neocosmos, M. 1985, ‘Some Problems in the Political Economy of “African Socialism”’, in H. Bernstein and B. Campbell, eds., Contradictions of Accumulation in Africa, London: Sage.
Lumumba, O. and Kanyinga, K., 2003, ‘The Land Question and Sustainable Development in Kenya’. Draft paper for the Regional and World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) Dialogue Initiative: An African Perspective on Land and Sustainable Development.
Lastarria-Cornhiel, S., 2002, ‘Concepts of Property Rights and Citizenship: Market Economy, Customary Tenure, and Gender’, presentation for Conference on Conflicts over Land and Water in Africa: Questions of Citizenship and Identity, Centre for Development Research Copenhagen, 28–29 November 2002.
Lipton, M., 1976, Why Poor People Stay Poor: A Study of Urban Bias in World Development, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Mafeje, A., 1997, ‘The Agrarian Question in Southern Africa and Accumulation from Below’, SAPEM, Vol. 10, No. 5.
Mafeje, A., 1999, ‘Imperatives and Options for Agricultural Development in Africa: Peasant or Capitalist Revolution?’, unpublished essay.
Mafeje, A. 2003, ‘The Agrarian question, Access to Land and Peasant Responses in Sub-Saharan Africa’, UNRISD Programme papers on Civil Society and Social Movements.
Mamdani, M., 1996, Citizens and Subjects: Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of Late Colonialism, Princetown, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Mamdani, M., 2001, When Victims Become Killers: Colonialism, Nativism, and the Genocide in Rwanda. Princetown, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Molomo, M.G., 2003, ‘The Land Question and Sustainable Development in Botswana’, draft paper for the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) Dialogue Initiative: An African Perspective on Land and Sustainable Development.
Moyo, S., 1995, The Land Question in Zimbabwe, Harare: SAPES Books.
Moyo, S., 2000, Land Reform Under Structural Adjustment in Zimbabwe: Land Use Change in Mashonaland Provinces, Uppsala: Nordiska Afrika Institutet.
Moyo, S., 2001, ‘The Land Occupation Movement and Democratization in Zimbabwe: Contradictions of Neo-liberalism’, Millennium Journal of International Studies, Vol. 30, No. 2, pp. 311-330.
Moyo, S., 2002, ‘Peasant Organisations and Rural Civil Society in Africa: An Introduction’, in S. Moyo and B. Romdhane, eds., Peasant Organisations and Democratisation in Africa, Dakar: CODESRIA.
Moyo, S., 2003, ‘The Interaction of Market and Compulsory Land Acquisition Processes with Social Action in Zimbabwe’s Land Reform’, in I. Mandaza and D. Nabudere, eds., Pan Africanism and Integration in Africa, Harare: Sapes Books.
Moyo, S., 2004, ‘Land, Food Security and Sustainable Development in Africa’, paper prepared for the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), Sustainable Development Division, Ethiopia.
Moyo, S., 2005, ‘The Politics of Land Distribution and Race Relations in Southern Africa’, in Y. Bangura and R. Stavenhagen, eds., Racism and Public Policy, London: Palgrave Press.
Moyo, S. and Yeros, P., 2005a, ‘Land Occupations and Land Reform in Zimbabwe: Towards the National Democratic Revolution’, in S. Moyo and P. Yeros, eds., Reclaiming the Land: The Resurgence of Rural Movements in Africa, Asia and Latin America, London: Zed Books.
Moyo, S. and Yeros, P., 2005b, ‘Resurgence of Social Movements’, S. Moyo and P. Yeros, eds., Reclaiming the Land: The Resurgence of Rural Movements in Africa, Asia and Latin America, London: Zed Books.
Moyo, S., 2008, African Land Questions, Agrarian Transitions and the State: Contradictions of Neo-liberal Land Reforms, Dakar: CODESRIA.
Murombedzi, J., 1999, ‘Land Expropriation, Communal Tenure and Common Property Resource Management in Southern Africa’, The Common Property Resources Digest, October 1999.
Negrao, J., 1999, ‘The Mozambican Land Campaign, 1997-1999’, paper presented at the Workshop on the Associative Movement, Maputo, 14 December’ (http://www.Oxfam.org.uk/landrights), 15 November 2006.
Palmer, R., 2000, ‘The Struggles Continue: Evolving Land Policy and Tenure Reforms in Africa: Recent Policy and Implementation Process’ in C. Toulmin, C. and J. Quan, eds., Evolving Land Rights, Tenure and Policy in Sub-Saharan Africa, London: IIED.
Palmer, R., 2002, ‘A Guide to, and Some Comments on, The World Bank’s Policy Research Report (PRR), Land Policy for Pro-Poor Growth and Development’, in Ethnic Clashes in Kenya, Nairobi: Peacenet-Kenya 2001 (www.peacenet-Kenya.org/projects/ethniclashes.htm) 15 November, 2006.
Petras, J. and Veltmeyer, H., 2001, ‘Are Latin American Peasant Movements Still a Force for Change? Some New Paradigms Revisited’ Journal of Peasant Studies, Vol. 28, No. 2.
Petras, J., 1997, ‘MST and Latin America: The Revival of the Peasantry as a Revolutionary Force’, Canadian Dimension, Vol, 31, No. 3.
Platteau, J. P., 1996, ‘The Evolutionary Theory of Land Rights as Applied to Sub- Saharan Africa: A Critical Assessment’, Development and Change, Vol 27, No. 1, pp. 29-86.
Quan, J., 2000, ‘Land Tenure, Economic Growth and Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa’, in C. Toulmin and J. Quan, 2000, Evolving Land Rights, Tenure and Policy in Sub-Saharan Africa, London: IIED, pp. 31-49.
Rahmato, D., 1991, ‘Peasant Organisations in Africa: Constraints and Potentials’, CODESRIA Working Paper 1/91, Dakar: CODESRIA.
Sender, J. and Johnston, D., 2004, ‘Searching for a Weapon of Mass Production in Rural Africa: Unconvincing Arguments for Land Reform’, Journal of Agrarian Change, Vol. 4, No. 1/2, pp. 142-164.
Shivji, I., 1998, Not Yet Democracy: Reforming Land Tenure in Tanzania. Dar es Salaam: International Institute for Environmental and Development (Drylands Programme), HAKIARDHI (Land Rights Research and Resources Institute), and the Faculty of Law, University of Tanzania.
Shivji, I. G., Moyo, S., Ncube, W. and Gunby, D., 1998. ‘Draft National Land Policy for the Government of Zimbabwe’, discussion paper, Harare: FAO and Ministry of Lands and Agriculture.
Submarian, J., 1996, ‘Eritrea Country Profile,’ in J. W. Bruce, ed., Country Profiles of Land Tenure, Madison, WI: Africa Land Tenure Center, University of Wisconsin, pp. 164-168.
Tsikata, D., 1991, Securing Women’s Interests within Land Tenure Reforms: Recent Debates in Tanzania. Journal of Agrarian Change, Vol. 3, No. 1/2, pp. 149-183.
Veltmeyer, H., 1997, ‘New Social Movements in Latin America: The Dynamics of Class and Identity’, Journal of Peasant Studies, Vol. 25, No. 1.
World Bank, 2002, Land Policy for Pro-Poor Growth and Development. Washington, DC: World Bank.
Yeros, P., 2002a, ‘Zimbabwe and the Dilemmas of the Left’, Historical Materialism, Vol. 10, No. 2, pp. 3-15.
Yeros, P., 2002b, ‘The Political Economy of Civilisation: Peasant-Workers in Zimbabwe and the Neocolonial World’, PhD dissertation, London School of Economics.