http://repub.eur.nl/res/aut/22657/ List of Publications en http://repub.eur.nl/static-eur/img/logo.png http://repub.eur.nl http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/38930/ 2012-12-01T00:00:00Z We introduce this special issue by explaining seven characteristics of land grabbing in Latin America. These features are not unique to the region. By highlighting them - arguing, for instance, that a key aspect in Latin America is intra-regional land grabbing driven by (trans)Latina companies - we hope to inspire new cross-regional comparisons to understand the dynamics of "global" land grabbing. Our focus on Latin America challenges some problematic generalisations in the literature, for instance, that land grabs occur mainly in fragile states. We interrogate the relationship between land grabbing and the "foreignisation" narrative, and the need to revisit the broader question of land concentration. Thus we build upon the literature locating land grabs and the land question within the political economy of global capitalism. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/38569/ 2012-07-01T00:00:00Z Land grabbing has gained momentum in Latin America and the Caribbean during the past decade. The phenomenon has taken different forms and character as compared to processes that occur in other regions of the world, especially Africa. It puts into question some of the assumptions in the emerging literature on land grabbing, suggesting these are too food-centered/too food crisis-centered, too land-centred, too centred on new global food regime players - China, South Korea, Gulf States and India - and too centred on Africa. There are four key mechanisms through which land grabbing in Latin American and the Caribbean has been carried out: food security initiatives, energy/fuel security ventures, other climate change mitigation strategies, and recent demands for resources from newer hubs of global capital. The hallmark of land grabbing in the region is its intra-regional character: the key investors are (Trans-)Latin American companies, often in alliance with international capital and the central state. Initial evidence suggests that recent land investments have consolidated the earlier trend away from (re)distributive land policies in most countries in the region, and are likely to result in widespread reconcentration of land and capital. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/39068/ 2012-03-01T00:00:00Z En este breve artículo presento de manera muy general y esquemática algunos aspectos sobre la concentración de la tierra en América Latina. No pretendo hacer un análisis detallado y completo sobre la problemática de la tierra en la región. Pero espero poder resaltar algunos factores que explican la dinámica del proceso de concentración o de re-concentración de la tierra. Ejemplifico dicha dinámica con datos empíricos de algunos países de la región pero el análisis no intenta ser exhaustivo. Mi objetivo sólo es presentar algunas ideas que me parecen centrales para la discusión y que puedan quizás proporcionar un trasfondo al debate sobre el caso ecuatoriano que es el tema central de este seminario-debate. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/39173/ 2011-11-14T00:00:00Z Introducción y mensajes claves Este documento se basa en la investigación empírica que fue encomendada por la Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Alimentación y la Agricultura (FAO) sobre las condiciones y tendencias del ―acaparamiento de tierras‖ en 17 países de América Latina y el Caribe (véase el Anexo para una lista completa de los estudios, así como el documento síntesis correspondiente; FAO, 2011). Los 17 estudios se concluyeron a mediados de 2011. El marco analítico común de los estudios es amplio, pero a la vez focalizado. Por un lado es amplio porque analiza los procesos generales de las tierras rurales y la concentración de capital en el contexto de la globalización neoliberal. Por el otro, es focalizado porque analiza el fenómeno del ―acaparamiento de tierras‖ basándose estrictamente en tres dimensiones específicas, a saber: i) el gran alcance de las adquisiciones de tierra a gran escala; ii) la participación de los gobiernos extranjeros en estos tratos sobre tierras; y iii) el impacto negativo de dichas inversiones recientes en tierras sobre la seguridad alimentaria del país receptor. Es en gran medida debido a este tipo de marco analítico que la mayoría de los estudios pudieron desentrañar y recopilar gran cantidad de material empírico relacionado con la dinámica de las tierras en la región; sin embargo, dado que el enfoque de su análisis y conclusiones se basó en la definición y la dimensión angostas del acaparamiento de tierras, la conclusión obtenida fue que el ―acaparamiento de tierras‖ se da únicamente en dos países de la región: Argentina y Brasil. ... http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/25583/ 2011-04-01T00:00:00Z This article discusses the manifold contributions of Willem Assies to the social sciences and Latin American studies. It focuses on his writings on agrarian and peasant studies, social movements, and indigenous peoples. In particular, he made important contributions to our understanding of multicultural citizenship, the multiethnic state, and plurinational democracy. His writings had a major impact on those working on rural and indigenous peoples' issues, although the Dutch academic establishment largely failed to appreciate his exceptional talents. It is argued in this article that he never wavered from his early recognition of the importance of class in social analysis, while acknowledging its limitations. In his view, one of the central challenges facing the indigenous peoples' social movements was how to link indigenous issues to general national problems. To what extent had they met this challenge? His premature death prevented him from exploring this key issue further, but hopefully other scholars will take up the baton and continue to debate his ideas. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/26017/ 2011-04-01T00:00:00Z A common trait of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) in Bolivia, Honduras and Nicaragua is the relative lack of priority assigned to the rural sector despite the high incidence of poverty found there, as well as their inability to focus on the key determinants of rural poverty. The dynamics of the PRSP process and their impact on rural poverty are analysed. Although the factors accounting for the poor results attained by poverty reduction strategies vary between the countries discussed, a common factor is the limited capacity of the State to design and implement development strategies that are able to tackle the structural causes of poverty, and hence achieve substantial and sustainable reductions in poverty. This conclusion is reinforced by a comparative analysis with South Korea and Taiwan, which have succeeded in significantly reducing poverty through a growth with equity developmentalist strategy. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/38646/ 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z Promoting Democracy in the Americas begins where Tom Farer’s formative book, Beyond Sovereignty : Collectively Defending Democracy in the Americas (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press), left off in 1996. Where the latter established the growing role of international organisations in democratisation, Promoting Democracy reveals how these organisations are now integral to understanding this process. Along with the Organization of American States (OAS), the United Nations, the United States and other major powers, non-governmental organisations and the spread of norms all play a part in shaping the very nature of democratic institutions. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/38653/ 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z Los Estudios del Desarrollo surgieron como un campo de estudio, investigación y de política después de la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Desde entonces, han crecido enormemente como un objeto académico, como puede observarse en el creciente número de estudiantes que toman cursos en Estudios del Desarrollo (o Estudios del Desarrollo Internacional), y en el aumento significativo de los artículos publicados en este campo, en un universo cada vez mayor de publicaciones sobre el desarrollo, y en publicaciones de otras disciplinas y áreas de estudio. Al igual que en otras disciplinas, en los estudios del desarrollo se han constituido también diferentes escuelas de pensamiento que compiten entre sí. Es imposible hacer justicia a la riqueza de este campo de investigación en escasas sesiones de clases, incluso si se les diera prioridad a los estudios del desarrollo solamente desde la perspectiva crítica o heterodoxa. Esta unidad se concentra en la contribución de América Latina a los estudios del desarrollo, la cual ha sido bastante crítica de las teorías ortodoxas de desarrollo. Esta contribución es un recurso importante para los ECD y un significativo reservorio de ideas para repensar el desarrollo a futuro. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/19787/ 2010-04-01T00:00:00Z This two-part article surveys the origin, development and current meaning of the 'agrarian question'. Part One of the survey explored the history of the agrarian question, elaborating its origin in the work of Marx, Engels, Kautsky, and Lenin, and its development in the work of Preobrazhensky, Dobb, Brenner, and others. Part Two of the survey identifies seven current variants of the agrarian question and critically interrogates these variants in order to understand whether, and if so, how, the location of small-scale petty commodity food and farm production within contemporary capitalism has been reconfigured during the era of neoliberal globalisation. Together, the two parts of the survey argue that the agrarian question continues to offer a rigorously flexible framework by which to undertake a historically-informed and country-specific analysis of the material conditions governing rural production, reproduction, and the process of agrarian accumulation or its lack thereof, a process that is located within the law of value and market imperatives that operate on a world scale. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/38654/ 2010-01-01T00:00:00Z This book has its origins in papers presented at the Seventh Congress of the Latin American Association of Rural Sociology (Associac¸a˜o Latinoamericana de Sociologia Rural, ALASRU) in 2006 in Quito. It is divided into three sections. The first is the most ambitious as it deals with some theoretical elements for reconceptualising public policies. The second section is on territory and political decentralisation, and the last section discusses aspects of the new public–private configurations in the rural world. With the exception of the first chapter by Alberto Arce, each chapter refers to a particular country. There are three chapters on Brazil, two each on Chile and Guatemala, and one each on Argentina, Mexico and Peru. While it may be difficult and perhaps not even desirable to have a chapter on every Latin American country, it is regrettable that there is no chapter on Bolivia, which has a rich experience of decentralisation, struggles for territorial autonomy and public–private practices in the countryside. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/38931/ 2009-10-01T00:00:00Z Los documentos de estrategia de lucha contra la pobreza, preparados por los gobiernos mediante un proceso en el que participan instituciones internacionales y actores de la sociedad civil, no dieron los resultados previstos. El artículo analiza los casos de Honduras, Nicaragua y Bolivia y concluye que este tipo de acciones no contemplaron de manera adecuada la cuestión de la pobreza rural y, aunque más tarde incorporaron el tema, enfrentaron obstáculos políticos y administrativos que dificultaron el logro de sus metas. Pero incluso si se hubieran implementado de manera correcta no hubieran conseguido solucionar el problema, cuyas causas estructurales radican en la desigual distribución de la tierra, la insuficiente productividad de los pequeños productores campesinos y la falta de compromiso del Estado con los pobres del campo. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/38923/ 2009-01-01T00:00:00Z This essay reviews some of the main interpretations in development studies on agriculture's contribution to economic development. It explores the relationship between agriculture and industry as well as between the rural and urban sectors in the process of development. These issues are discussed by analysing the so-called 'Soviet industrialisation debate', the 'urban bias' thesis, the development strategies pursued in East Asia and Latin America from a comparative perspective, the impact of neoliberal policies on rural-urban relations and the 'agriculture-for-development' proposal of the World Development Report 2008. The main argument arising from analysing these issues is that a development strategy which creates and enhances the synergies between agriculture and industry and goes beyond the rural-urban divide offers the best possibilities for generating a process of rural development able to eradicate rural poverty. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/38652/ 2009-01-01T00:00:00Z Keynesian Economics It refers to the body of ideas inspired by the British economist John Maynard Keynes (1883–1946) particularly as set out in the General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money in which he argued that it was the duty of governments to achieve and maintain full employment. In the economic development literature, his ideas are used to justify state intervention in the economy due to the existence of market failures and the limitations of markets for achieving certain developmentalist goals. Neoclassical Economics It originates largely from the writings of Alfred Marshall (1842–1924) and was subsequently developed in the twentieth century by John Hicks and Paul Samuelson, among many others. It believes in the economic rationality of individuals and in the efficiency of free markets. It argues against state intervention in markets (with some exceptions) as this leads to inefficiency and lower rates of economic growth. Today the term neoliberalism is more commonly used to refer to the promotion of free market economic policies. Terms of Trade An index calculated by dividing an index of export prices by an index of import prices. It measures the purchasing power of exports in terms of imports. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/38932/ 2009-01-01T00:00:00Z Intro: El mundo atraviesa un periodo de cambio histórico: por primera vez en la historia de la humanidad, la población urbana excede a la del campo; sin embargo, la pobreza conserva aún un rostro rural. Además, la economía y la sociedad campesinas todavía cumplen una función vital en el proceso de desarrollo y en el bienestar de la población total. Las actuales preocupaciones por el calentamiento global, la crisis alimentaria, los organismos genéticamente modificados, la biodiversidad, la soberanía alimentaria, los biocombustibles, la pobreza rural y las migraciones internacionales, entre otras, revelan la importancia actual de la problemática agraria y rural. ... http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/38935/ 2009-01-01T00:00:00Z Resumen: Este artículo investiga el surgimiento a mediados de la década de los noventa de un nuevo enfoque para los estudios del desarrollo rural en América Latina. Se abordan las diferentes interpretaciones y contradicciones de este acercamiento así como los debates resultantes. El análisis se concentra en los cuatro principales cambios de la economía rural y de la sociedad que normalmente resaltan los “nuevos ruralistas”. Asimismo, hace una distinción entre los enfoques reformista, comunitario y territorial de la nueva ruralidad. Abstract: This article investigates the emergence of a new approach for rural development studies in Latin America in the mid-1990s. It explores the various interpretations and contradictions of this approach as well as the resulting debates. The analysis focuses on the four main changes in rural economy and society normally highlighted by the “new ruralists”. It also makes a distinction between the reformist, community and territorial approaches of the new rurality. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/19179/ 2005-12-01T00:00:00Z http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/19081/ 2001-05-01T00:00:00Z http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/19057/ 2000-02-01T00:00:00Z http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/19025/ 1998-10-01T00:00:00Z http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/19009/ 1998-01-01T00:00:00Z http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/18921/ 1996-05-01T00:00:00Z http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/18872/ 1994-05-01T00:00:00Z http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/18808/ 1991-01-01T00:00:00Z http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/18931/ 1990-06-01T00:00:00Z