We come to an analysis of Third Worldism through an historical understanding of the development p... more We come to an analysis of Third Worldism through an historical understanding of the development project, one that locates Third Worldism as a moment in a broader series of resistances both to capital and colonialism, and to the techniques used by the state to maintain hegemony. Viewing Third Worldism in this wider context, we argue, enables us to not only explain the failure of Third Worldism to deliver on its vision of emancipation from colonialism, but to also explain the shape of contemporary resistance to the world capitalist order. We argue that the theory and practice of development depends on a certain biopolitics, rooted in a regime of sovereign state control, and designed to mobilise citizens in ways favourable to capital. We hold that Third Worldism embraced this form of sovereignty and its biopolitics. Further, by blending cultural studies analysis with a Polanyian interpretation of the rise of fascism, we argue that Third Worldism can be situated as a moment in the maturation of 'global fascism'. Finally, we argue that contemporary resistances to neoliberalism have recognised the complicity of the state with capital. These 'new internationalisms' arise from the ashes of Third Worldism, with an altered understanding of 'sovereignty' that challenges the trajectory of the Third World sovereign state.
This article reviews proposals regarding the recent food crisis in the context of a broader, thre... more This article reviews proposals regarding the recent food crisis in the context of a broader, threshold debate on the future of agriculture and food security. While the MDGs have focused on eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, the food crisis pushed the hungry over the one billion mark. There is thus a renewed focus on agricultural development, which pivots on the salience of industrial agriculture (as a supply source) in addressing food security. The World Bank's new 'agriculture for development' initiative seeks to improve small-farmer productivity with new inputs, and their incorporation into global markets via value-chains originating in industrial agriculture. An alternative claim, originating in 'food sovereignty' politics, demanding small-farmer rights to develop bio-regionally specific agro-ecological methods and provision for local, rather than global, markets, resonates in the IAASTD report, which implies agribusiness as usual ''is no longer an option'. The basic divide is over whether agriculture is a servant of economic growth, or should be developed as a foundational source of social and ecological sustainability. We review and compare these different paradigmatic approaches to food security, and their political and ecological implications.
Food sovereignty, as a counter-movement to the food regime, includes a range of struggles, and is... more Food sovereignty, as a counter-movement to the food regime, includes a range of struggles, and is evidently quite elastic as a discourse and practice. Because the food regime itself is evolving and restructuring, food sovereignty embodies movement. In its ‘second generation’ phase it operates on both rural and urban fronts, separately and together, connecting producers, workers, consumers and various activist organizations. Nevertheless, it is important to recognize food sovereignty's origins in the global agrarian crisis of the last three decades. Small producers (peasants, farmers, pastoralists, fishers, forest-dwellers) continue to experience massive displacement by World Trade Organization (WTO)-style ‘free trade’, overlaid with new displacements by fiat, force and finance as land grabbing in various forms proceeds apace. This is a key theme in a response to Henry Bernstein's questions about the character of the food sovereignty movement.
... Neoliberal Order edited by Joe Bandy and Jackie Smith Cyberpolitics: Citizen Activism in the ... more ... Neoliberal Order edited by Joe Bandy and Jackie Smith Cyberpolitics: Citizen Activism in the Age of the Internet by Kevin A ... on the Right: The American Militia Movement from Ruby Ridge to Homeland Security by Lane Crothers Rethinking Social Movements: Structure, Meaning ...
... The coup marked a turning point in the trajectory of Third World nationalism, introducing new... more ... The coup marked a turning point in the trajectory of Third World nationalism, introducing new ... 44 The Vietnam War (early 1960s to 1975) came to symbolise global inequality. ... of poverty, so communism and/or national liberation struggles were identified with under-development. ...
Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 14747731 2013 760925, Feb 1, 2013
International studies routinely consign agri-food relations to the analytical margins, despite th... more International studies routinely consign agri-food relations to the analytical margins, despite the substantive historical impact of the agri-food frontiers and provisioning on the structuring of the interstate system. As a case in point, current restructuring of the food regime and its global political-economic coordinates is expressed through the process of ‘land grabbing’. Here, the crisis of the WTO-centered corporate food regime, which has neoliberalized Southern agriculture while sustaining Northern agro-food subsidies, is manifest in a new form of mercantilism of commandeering offshore land for supplies of food, feed, and fuel. This article examines the content and implications of this new ‘security mercantilism’, which both affirms and contradicts a neoliberal order, anticipating a shift in international relations around resource grabbing.Los estudios internacionales destinan periódicamente las relaciones de los productos agroalimentarios a los márgenes analíticos, a pesar del impacto histórico fundamental de las fronteras agroalimentarias y del abastecimiento en la estructuración del sistema interestatal. Como ejemplo, la reestructuración actual del régimen alimentario y sus coordenadas políticas económicas globales, se expresa a través del proceso del ‘acaparamiento de tierras’. Aquí, la crisis del régimen corporativo alimentario centrado en la OMC, el cual ha neoliberalizado la agricultura del sur, mientras sostiene subsidios agroalimentarios en el norte, se manifiesta en una nueva forma de mercantilismo de incautación de alimentos y combustible en tierra extranjera. Este artículo examina el contenido y las implicaciones de esta nueva ‘seguridad mercantilista’, que tanto afirma como contradice un orden neoliberal, anticipando un cambio en las relaciones internacionales alrededor del acaparamiento de recursos.国际研究通常把农业食品的关系作为分析边际,尽管农业食品新领域的实质历史性影响以及国家间系统结构的设置。一个恰当的例子就是,当前粮食制度的再重构及其全球政治经济协调通过“土地并购”过程体现出来。在这里,以世界贸易组织为中心的粮食企业制度的危机,通过为提供食物、饲料、燃料而征用海外土地的重商主义新形式体现出来,该粮食企业制度使南部农业重新自由化,而对北部持续提供农业补贴。本文仔细研究了这种肯定却又违背了新自由主义秩序的新型 “安全重商主义”的内容与含义,预测围绕资源掠夺的国际关系将会发生一定的转变。درجت الدراسات الدولية على إزاحة العلاقات الزراعية الغذائية إلى هوامش التحليل، على الرغم من الأثر التاريخي الكبير لها ودورها في تشكيل منظومة الدولة الداخلية. وكمثال على ذلك، فإن إعادة الهيكلة الحالية للنظام الغذائي وتنسيقاتها السياسية الاقتصادية العالمية تتجلى من خلال عملية "الاستيلاء على الأراضي". وهكذا فإن أزمة النظام الغذائي، الذي تتبناه منظمة التجارة العالمية والمتمركز حول مصلحة الشركات وله طابع نظام الزراعة النيوليبرالي في الجنوب بينما يحتفظ ببقايا العلاقات الزراعية الغذائية في الشمال، تظهر في شكل جديد من المنظومة التجارية (المركانتيلية) للتحكم في الأراضي خارج البلد المعني من حيث استخدامها لأغراض غذاء الإنسان والحيوان والوقود الحيوي. وتتحرى هذه الورقة مضمون ونتائج هذه "المركانتيلية الأمنية" الجديدة، والتي تؤكد وتناقض في وقت واحد نظاماً نيوليبرالياً، مما يشير إلى تحوّل في العلاقات الدولية إزاء الاستيلاء على الموارد.농업-식량의 심각한 역사적 영향과 국가간 체계의 구조화에 미치는 영향에도 불구하고, 국제관계 연구는 농업-식량 관계를 분석에서 주변화시켰다. 문제가 되는 사례로서 현재 이루어지고 있는 식량 레짐의 재구화와 지구적 정치-경제적 조절은 ‘토지 점유’ 과정을 통해서 표출된다. 여기에서 WTO 중심의 기업 식량 레짐의 위기는 식량, 사료와 원료 공급을 위해 해외 토지를 징발하는 새로운 형태의 중상주의로 나타난다. 그리고 WTO 중심의 기업 식량 레짐은 선진국의 농업-식량 보조금 지원을 유지하면서 후진국의 농업을 신자유주의화하고 있다. 이 논문은 자원 점유를 둘러싼 국제 관계의 변화를 기대하면서, 새로운 “안보 중상주의”의 내용과 함의를 다루고, 안보 중산주의가 신자유주의 질서에 부합하면서 동시에 모순적이라는 점을 다룬다.Международные исследования регулярно обрекают сельскохозяйственно-продовольственные отношения на аналитические окраины, несмотря на их существенный исторический вклад в обеспечение и структурирование межгосударственной системы. В качестве примера, текущая реструктуризация продовольственного режима и его глобальных политико-экономических координат выражается через процесс «захвата земли». Здесь, кризис в ВТО - центре корпоративного продовольственного режима, который имеет неолиберальное «южное» сельское хозяйство при сохраненных «северных» продовольственных субсидиях, проявляется в новой форме меркантилизма – присваивании оффшорной земли для поставок продуктов питания, кормов и топлива. В статье рассматривается содержание и значение этого нового «безопасного меркантилизма», который и подтверждает и противоречит неолиберальному порядку, предвосхищая изменения в международных отношениях вокруг захвата ресурсов.
Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 13563460600841041, Jan 23, 2007
... Heather Johnson, 'Subsistence and Control: The Persistence of the Peasantry in the .... more ... Heather Johnson, 'Subsistence and Control: The Persistence of the Peasantry in the ... M. Borras, Jr., 'Questioning Market-Led Agrarian Reform: Experiences from Brazil, Colombia and ... of peasant essentialism in Tom Brass, Peasants, Populism, and Postmodernism: The Return of ...
ABSTRACT Around the world, agricultural landscapes are increasingly seen as “multi-functional” sp... more ABSTRACT Around the world, agricultural landscapes are increasingly seen as “multi-functional” spaces, expected to deliver food supplies while improving rural livelihoods and protecting and restoring healthy ecosystems. To support this array of functions and benefits, governments and civil society in many regions are now promoting integrated farm- and landscape-scale management strategies, in lieu of fragmented management strategies. While rural producers are fundamental to achieving multi-functional landscapes, they are frequently viewed as targets of, or barriers to, landscape-oriented initiatives, rather than as leading agents of change. In reality, however, rural producers in many areas have embraced elements of multi-functional land management. In this paper, we explore the role and recent evolution of producer movements in influencing multi-functional farm and landscape management. We explore these roles through six case studies, including a land reform movement in Brazil, indigenous territorial development in Bolivia, conservation agriculture associations in Canada, environmental cooperatives in the Netherlands, indigenous and biocultural heritage associations in Peru, and Landcare groups in the Philippines. These experiences suggest that producer movements are playing pivotal roles in supporting landscape multi-functionality, not only through agroecological farming practices but also through off-farm efforts to conserve ecosystems and support multi-stakeholder landscape planning. On the other hand, interests of producer movements are not always fully aligned with multi-functional landscape management approaches. The contribution of producer movements to multi-functional landscapes depends on these movements including farm and landscape stewardship in their values and goals, and having the political support and capacity to engage meaningfully in multi-stakeholder processes.
Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 01436597 2013 786290, May 1, 2013
In the context of the world food crisis ‘value-chain agriculture’ is emerging as a new frontier o... more In the context of the world food crisis ‘value-chain agriculture’ is emerging as a new frontier of publicly subsidised corporate investment, incorporating smallholding farmers into commercial relations to redress apparent food shortages. This paper conceptualises value-chains as technologies of economic and ecological power, using cross-regional case studies to explore the impact of debt relations in extant value-chain relations. While the value-chain project envisioned by the development industry in partnership with the private sector is geared to ‘feeding the world’ the likely outcome is (differentiating) smallholders serving corporate markets at the expense of local food security. I argue that developmentalists seek to resolve the crisis through a ‘spatio-temporal fix’, enclosing smallholders in value-chain technologies financed through debt relations that appropriate value from smallholder communities. At the same time some farmers are seeking to avoid the debt trap by developing strategies to decommodify farming practices to preserve and revitalise their farms as creators of ecological values, rather than simply converters of economic value.
We come to an analysis of Third Worldism through an historical understanding of the development p... more We come to an analysis of Third Worldism through an historical understanding of the development project, one that locates Third Worldism as a moment in a broader series of resistances both to capital and colonialism, and to the techniques used by the state to maintain hegemony. Viewing Third Worldism in this wider context, we argue, enables us to not only explain the failure of Third Worldism to deliver on its vision of emancipation from colonialism, but to also explain the shape of contemporary resistance to the world capitalist order. We argue that the theory and practice of development depends on a certain biopolitics, rooted in a regime of sovereign state control, and designed to mobilise citizens in ways favourable to capital. We hold that Third Worldism embraced this form of sovereignty and its biopolitics. Further, by blending cultural studies analysis with a Polanyian interpretation of the rise of fascism, we argue that Third Worldism can be situated as a moment in the maturation of 'global fascism'. Finally, we argue that contemporary resistances to neoliberalism have recognised the complicity of the state with capital. These 'new internationalisms' arise from the ashes of Third Worldism, with an altered understanding of 'sovereignty' that challenges the trajectory of the Third World sovereign state.
This article reviews proposals regarding the recent food crisis in the context of a broader, thre... more This article reviews proposals regarding the recent food crisis in the context of a broader, threshold debate on the future of agriculture and food security. While the MDGs have focused on eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, the food crisis pushed the hungry over the one billion mark. There is thus a renewed focus on agricultural development, which pivots on the salience of industrial agriculture (as a supply source) in addressing food security. The World Bank's new 'agriculture for development' initiative seeks to improve small-farmer productivity with new inputs, and their incorporation into global markets via value-chains originating in industrial agriculture. An alternative claim, originating in 'food sovereignty' politics, demanding small-farmer rights to develop bio-regionally specific agro-ecological methods and provision for local, rather than global, markets, resonates in the IAASTD report, which implies agribusiness as usual ''is no longer an option'. The basic divide is over whether agriculture is a servant of economic growth, or should be developed as a foundational source of social and ecological sustainability. We review and compare these different paradigmatic approaches to food security, and their political and ecological implications.
Food sovereignty, as a counter-movement to the food regime, includes a range of struggles, and is... more Food sovereignty, as a counter-movement to the food regime, includes a range of struggles, and is evidently quite elastic as a discourse and practice. Because the food regime itself is evolving and restructuring, food sovereignty embodies movement. In its ‘second generation’ phase it operates on both rural and urban fronts, separately and together, connecting producers, workers, consumers and various activist organizations. Nevertheless, it is important to recognize food sovereignty's origins in the global agrarian crisis of the last three decades. Small producers (peasants, farmers, pastoralists, fishers, forest-dwellers) continue to experience massive displacement by World Trade Organization (WTO)-style ‘free trade’, overlaid with new displacements by fiat, force and finance as land grabbing in various forms proceeds apace. This is a key theme in a response to Henry Bernstein's questions about the character of the food sovereignty movement.
... Neoliberal Order edited by Joe Bandy and Jackie Smith Cyberpolitics: Citizen Activism in the ... more ... Neoliberal Order edited by Joe Bandy and Jackie Smith Cyberpolitics: Citizen Activism in the Age of the Internet by Kevin A ... on the Right: The American Militia Movement from Ruby Ridge to Homeland Security by Lane Crothers Rethinking Social Movements: Structure, Meaning ...
... The coup marked a turning point in the trajectory of Third World nationalism, introducing new... more ... The coup marked a turning point in the trajectory of Third World nationalism, introducing new ... 44 The Vietnam War (early 1960s to 1975) came to symbolise global inequality. ... of poverty, so communism and/or national liberation struggles were identified with under-development. ...
Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 14747731 2013 760925, Feb 1, 2013
International studies routinely consign agri-food relations to the analytical margins, despite th... more International studies routinely consign agri-food relations to the analytical margins, despite the substantive historical impact of the agri-food frontiers and provisioning on the structuring of the interstate system. As a case in point, current restructuring of the food regime and its global political-economic coordinates is expressed through the process of ‘land grabbing’. Here, the crisis of the WTO-centered corporate food regime, which has neoliberalized Southern agriculture while sustaining Northern agro-food subsidies, is manifest in a new form of mercantilism of commandeering offshore land for supplies of food, feed, and fuel. This article examines the content and implications of this new ‘security mercantilism’, which both affirms and contradicts a neoliberal order, anticipating a shift in international relations around resource grabbing.Los estudios internacionales destinan periódicamente las relaciones de los productos agroalimentarios a los márgenes analíticos, a pesar del impacto histórico fundamental de las fronteras agroalimentarias y del abastecimiento en la estructuración del sistema interestatal. Como ejemplo, la reestructuración actual del régimen alimentario y sus coordenadas políticas económicas globales, se expresa a través del proceso del ‘acaparamiento de tierras’. Aquí, la crisis del régimen corporativo alimentario centrado en la OMC, el cual ha neoliberalizado la agricultura del sur, mientras sostiene subsidios agroalimentarios en el norte, se manifiesta en una nueva forma de mercantilismo de incautación de alimentos y combustible en tierra extranjera. Este artículo examina el contenido y las implicaciones de esta nueva ‘seguridad mercantilista’, que tanto afirma como contradice un orden neoliberal, anticipando un cambio en las relaciones internacionales alrededor del acaparamiento de recursos.国际研究通常把农业食品的关系作为分析边际,尽管农业食品新领域的实质历史性影响以及国家间系统结构的设置。一个恰当的例子就是,当前粮食制度的再重构及其全球政治经济协调通过“土地并购”过程体现出来。在这里,以世界贸易组织为中心的粮食企业制度的危机,通过为提供食物、饲料、燃料而征用海外土地的重商主义新形式体现出来,该粮食企业制度使南部农业重新自由化,而对北部持续提供农业补贴。本文仔细研究了这种肯定却又违背了新自由主义秩序的新型 “安全重商主义”的内容与含义,预测围绕资源掠夺的国际关系将会发生一定的转变。درجت الدراسات الدولية على إزاحة العلاقات الزراعية الغذائية إلى هوامش التحليل، على الرغم من الأثر التاريخي الكبير لها ودورها في تشكيل منظومة الدولة الداخلية. وكمثال على ذلك، فإن إعادة الهيكلة الحالية للنظام الغذائي وتنسيقاتها السياسية الاقتصادية العالمية تتجلى من خلال عملية "الاستيلاء على الأراضي". وهكذا فإن أزمة النظام الغذائي، الذي تتبناه منظمة التجارة العالمية والمتمركز حول مصلحة الشركات وله طابع نظام الزراعة النيوليبرالي في الجنوب بينما يحتفظ ببقايا العلاقات الزراعية الغذائية في الشمال، تظهر في شكل جديد من المنظومة التجارية (المركانتيلية) للتحكم في الأراضي خارج البلد المعني من حيث استخدامها لأغراض غذاء الإنسان والحيوان والوقود الحيوي. وتتحرى هذه الورقة مضمون ونتائج هذه "المركانتيلية الأمنية" الجديدة، والتي تؤكد وتناقض في وقت واحد نظاماً نيوليبرالياً، مما يشير إلى تحوّل في العلاقات الدولية إزاء الاستيلاء على الموارد.농업-식량의 심각한 역사적 영향과 국가간 체계의 구조화에 미치는 영향에도 불구하고, 국제관계 연구는 농업-식량 관계를 분석에서 주변화시켰다. 문제가 되는 사례로서 현재 이루어지고 있는 식량 레짐의 재구화와 지구적 정치-경제적 조절은 ‘토지 점유’ 과정을 통해서 표출된다. 여기에서 WTO 중심의 기업 식량 레짐의 위기는 식량, 사료와 원료 공급을 위해 해외 토지를 징발하는 새로운 형태의 중상주의로 나타난다. 그리고 WTO 중심의 기업 식량 레짐은 선진국의 농업-식량 보조금 지원을 유지하면서 후진국의 농업을 신자유주의화하고 있다. 이 논문은 자원 점유를 둘러싼 국제 관계의 변화를 기대하면서, 새로운 “안보 중상주의”의 내용과 함의를 다루고, 안보 중산주의가 신자유주의 질서에 부합하면서 동시에 모순적이라는 점을 다룬다.Международные исследования регулярно обрекают сельскохозяйственно-продовольственные отношения на аналитические окраины, несмотря на их существенный исторический вклад в обеспечение и структурирование межгосударственной системы. В качестве примера, текущая реструктуризация продовольственного режима и его глобальных политико-экономических координат выражается через процесс «захвата земли». Здесь, кризис в ВТО - центре корпоративного продовольственного режима, который имеет неолиберальное «южное» сельское хозяйство при сохраненных «северных» продовольственных субсидиях, проявляется в новой форме меркантилизма – присваивании оффшорной земли для поставок продуктов питания, кормов и топлива. В статье рассматривается содержание и значение этого нового «безопасного меркантилизма», который и подтверждает и противоречит неолиберальному порядку, предвосхищая изменения в международных отношениях вокруг захвата ресурсов.
Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 13563460600841041, Jan 23, 2007
... Heather Johnson, 'Subsistence and Control: The Persistence of the Peasantry in the .... more ... Heather Johnson, 'Subsistence and Control: The Persistence of the Peasantry in the ... M. Borras, Jr., 'Questioning Market-Led Agrarian Reform: Experiences from Brazil, Colombia and ... of peasant essentialism in Tom Brass, Peasants, Populism, and Postmodernism: The Return of ...
ABSTRACT Around the world, agricultural landscapes are increasingly seen as “multi-functional” sp... more ABSTRACT Around the world, agricultural landscapes are increasingly seen as “multi-functional” spaces, expected to deliver food supplies while improving rural livelihoods and protecting and restoring healthy ecosystems. To support this array of functions and benefits, governments and civil society in many regions are now promoting integrated farm- and landscape-scale management strategies, in lieu of fragmented management strategies. While rural producers are fundamental to achieving multi-functional landscapes, they are frequently viewed as targets of, or barriers to, landscape-oriented initiatives, rather than as leading agents of change. In reality, however, rural producers in many areas have embraced elements of multi-functional land management. In this paper, we explore the role and recent evolution of producer movements in influencing multi-functional farm and landscape management. We explore these roles through six case studies, including a land reform movement in Brazil, indigenous territorial development in Bolivia, conservation agriculture associations in Canada, environmental cooperatives in the Netherlands, indigenous and biocultural heritage associations in Peru, and Landcare groups in the Philippines. These experiences suggest that producer movements are playing pivotal roles in supporting landscape multi-functionality, not only through agroecological farming practices but also through off-farm efforts to conserve ecosystems and support multi-stakeholder landscape planning. On the other hand, interests of producer movements are not always fully aligned with multi-functional landscape management approaches. The contribution of producer movements to multi-functional landscapes depends on these movements including farm and landscape stewardship in their values and goals, and having the political support and capacity to engage meaningfully in multi-stakeholder processes.
Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 01436597 2013 786290, May 1, 2013
In the context of the world food crisis ‘value-chain agriculture’ is emerging as a new frontier o... more In the context of the world food crisis ‘value-chain agriculture’ is emerging as a new frontier of publicly subsidised corporate investment, incorporating smallholding farmers into commercial relations to redress apparent food shortages. This paper conceptualises value-chains as technologies of economic and ecological power, using cross-regional case studies to explore the impact of debt relations in extant value-chain relations. While the value-chain project envisioned by the development industry in partnership with the private sector is geared to ‘feeding the world’ the likely outcome is (differentiating) smallholders serving corporate markets at the expense of local food security. I argue that developmentalists seek to resolve the crisis through a ‘spatio-temporal fix’, enclosing smallholders in value-chain technologies financed through debt relations that appropriate value from smallholder communities. At the same time some farmers are seeking to avoid the debt trap by developing strategies to decommodify farming practices to preserve and revitalise their farms as creators of ecological values, rather than simply converters of economic value.
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