Author: Ian Scoones
Publisher: James Currey
ISBN: 9781847010247
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
Challenges the commonly held myths about Zimbabwe's land reform.

Author: Sam Moyo
Publisher: African Books Collective
ISBN: 2869785534
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 374

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Book Description
The Fast Track Land Reform Programme implemented during the 2000s in Zimbabwe represents the only instance of radical redistributive land reforms since the end of the Cold War. It reversed the racially-skewed agrarian structure and discriminatory land tenures inherited from colonial rule. The land reform also radicalised the state towards a nationalist, introverted accumulation strategy, against a broad array of unilateral Western sanctions. Indeed, Zimbabwe's land reform, in its social and political dynamics, must be compared to the leading land reforms of the twentieth century, which include those of Mexico, Russia, China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Cuba and Mozambique. The fact that the Zimbabwe case has not been recognised as vanguard nationalism has much to do with the 'intellectual structural adjustment' which has accompanied neoliberalism and a hostile media campaign. This has entailed dubious theories of ëneopatrimonialismí, which reduce African politics and the state to endemic ëcorruptioní, ëpatronageí, and ëtribalismí while overstating the virtues of neoliberal good governance. Under this racist repertoire, it has been impossible to see class politics, mass mobilisation and resistance, let alone believe that something progressive can occur in Africa. This book comes to a conclusion that the Zimbabwe land reform represents a new form of resistance with distinct and innovative characteristics when compared to other cases of radicalisation, reform and resistance. The process of reform and resistance has entailed the deliberate creation of a tri-modal agrarian structure to accommodate and balance the interests of various domestic classes, the progressive restructuring of labour relations and agrarian markets, the continuing pressures for radical reforms (through the indigenisation of mining and other sectors), and the rise of extensive, albeit relatively weak, producer cooperative structures. The book also highlights some of the resonances between the Zimbabwean land struggles and those on the continent, as well as in the South in general, arguing that there are some convergences and divergences worthy of intellectual attention. The book thus calls for greater endogenous empirical research which overcomes the pre-occupation with failed interpretations of the nature of the state and agency in Africa.

Author: Grasian Mkodzongi
Publisher: Anthem Press
ISBN: 1785274163
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 154

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Book Description
This book examines the dynamics underpinning the implementation of Zimbabwe’s fast track land reforms. By utilising ethnographic data gathered in central Zimbabwe, the book goes beyond the polarised debates which dominated scholarship in the earlier period to highlight the changing livelihoods occasioned by the land reform. The book argues that despite the challenges faced by the newly resettled farmers, the land reform has allowed landless and land-short peasants access to land and other natural resources which were previously enclosed to them under a bi-modal agrarian structure inherited from colonialism.

Author: Alexander Charles Laurie
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199398291
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 423

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Book Description
This work explores what is inarguably the most socially and economically transformative event in Zimbabwe since independence in 1980-the land seizure era. It explains why Mugabe risked the social and economic well-being of Zimbabwe by targeting commercial farms, which were a vital source of commodities, a major employer, and a critical source of tax revenue. It also uncovers why the 'land redistribution program,' as Mugabe and the ruling ZANU-PF party claimed the takeovers to be, occurred 20 years after independence and in a very chaotic manner.

Author: Joseph Hanlon
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781565495203
Category : Agriculture and state
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The news from Zimbabwe is usually unremittingly bleak owing to the success of the Mugabe regime’s control of information and sequestration/elimination of political opponents. Perhaps no issue has aroused such ire as the land reforms Mugabe has implemented, which, according to what journalist reports are available, have largely benefited Mugabe’s cronies. ZimbabweTakes Back it Land, however, offers a much more positive and nuanced assessment of land reform in Zimbabwe, one that counters the dominant narratives of oppression and economic stagnation. While not minimizing the depredations of the Mugabe regime, and admitting that many of Mugabe’s supporters benefited from the dictators largesse, the authors show how ordinary Zimbabweans have taken charge of their destinies in creative and unacknowledged ways through their use of land holdings obtained through Mugabe’s land reform programs. This is an inspiring story of collective agency by the exploited, and how development can take place in even the most hostile of circumstances.

Author: Ian Scoones
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781983498497
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 238

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Book Description
Zimbabwe's land reform has been highly controversial. Too often, ideological positions trump empirical realities and detailed analysis. This book aims to fill a gap by drawing on extensive longitudinal research from across Zimbabwe, pointing to policy challenges, as well as solutions. In the post-Mugabe era, moving forward is vital if the agrarian economy is to revive and the benefits of the land reform are to be realised. Across nine sections and 44 chapters, the book discusses a range of themes - from livelihood change in land reform areas, to the particular challenges of medium-scale farms, youth, farm workers and land administration to food security, market development, small towns and the potentials for local economic development.

Author: Lionel Cliffe
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 131798126X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 278

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Book Description
The struggle over land has been the central issue in Zimbabwe ever since white settlers began to carve out large farms over a century ago. Their monopolisation of the better-watered half of the land was the focus of the African war of liberation war, and was partially modified following Independence in 1980. A dramatic further episode in this history was launched at the start of the last decade with the occupation of many farms by groups of African veterans of the liberation struggle and their supporters, which was then institutionalised by legislation to take over most of the large commercial farms for sub-division. Sustained fieldwork over the intervening years, by teams of scholars and experts, and by individual researchers is now generating an array of evidence-based findings of the outcomes: how land was acquired and disposed of; how it has been used; how far new farmers have carved out new livelihoods and viable new communities; the major political and economic problems they and other stakeholders such as former farm-workers, commercial farmers, and the overall rural society now face. This book will be an essential starting place for analysts, policy-makers, historians and activists seeking to understand what has happened and to spotlight the key issues for the next decade. This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of Peasant Studies.

Author: Prosper B. Matondi
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1780321503
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
The Fast Track Land Reform Programme in Zimbabwe has emerged as a highly contested reform process both nationally and internationally. The image of it has all too often been that of the widespread displacement and subsequent replacement of various people, agricultural-related production systems, facets and processes. The reality, however, is altogether more complex. Providing new and much-needed empirical research, this in-depth book examines how processes such as land acquisition, allocation, transitional production outcomes, social life, gender and tenure, have influenced and been influenced by the forces driving the programme. It also explores the ways in which the land reform programme has created a new agrarian structure based on small- to medium-scale farmers. In attempting to resolve the problematic issues the reforms have raised, the author argues that it is this new agrarian formation which provides the greatest scope for improving Zimbabwe's agriculture and development. Based on a broader geographical scope than any previous study carried out on the subject, this is a landmark work on a subject of considerable controversy.

Author: Sam Moyo
Publisher: Nordic Africa Institute
ISBN: 9789171064578
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
This study represents a first systematic effort to document Zimbabwe "s new land uses during the years of economic crisis, the role of the state in promoting them, the differentiation associated with them, not only between black and white farmers, but also among them, and the implications of all these for the political economy of the Zimbabwean land question. The fact that some of the new land uses avoid redistribution of clearly under-utilised large scale commercial farms suggests that the Zimbabwean land question will remain a live political issue for a long time.

Author: Ian Scoones
Publisher: Createspace Independent Pub
ISBN: 9781493680627
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 234

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Book Description
Zimbabwe's land reform has been intensely controversial. Yet debate has been plagued by bias and misinformation. This book aims to offer a more considered discussion, rooted in field-based, empirical research carried out over 13 years since the 2000 land reform. The 60 chapters of this book originally appeared on the Zimbabweland blog (www.zimbabweland.wordpress.com). They are organised in eight thematic sections, each introduced with a short overview essay. These cover agricultural and livestock production, the economy, political dimensions, land, livelihoods and rural development, aid and development, comparative lessons and researching land and agrarian change. As Zimbabwe looks to the future, the challenges of agriculture and rural development are pressing. The reflections in this book provide pointers to the way forward.