Agrarian Structure and Underdevelopment in Latin America: Bringing the Latifundio “Back In”

Abstract

Latin American scholars in the twentieth century often pointed to the agrarian question and the dominance of the large latifundio estates as the key to explaining their countries' underdevelopment. Yet, in more recent years, the emphasis on agrarian structures has declined and the latifundio is no longer seen as a relevant factor to economic development. In its place have emerged explanations that emphasize international trade relations, institutions, or the capacity of local states. This study makes a case for bringing the latifundio "back in" to explanations of underdevelopment in Latin America, and points to the persistence of particular property relations, low-intensity land use, and low-risk productive strategies throughout the region as barriers to development. Agricultural census data and various other sources on land use suggest that large latifundio estates are still a relevant factor throughout the region, and I argue that they continue to represent a significant barrier for the deepening of industrialization.Intelectuales latinoamericanos en el siglo veinte frecuentemente señalaban a la cuestión agraria y la dominación latifundiária como la clave para explicar el subdesarrollo de sus países. Sin embargo, en años recientes el énfasis en estructuras agrarias ha disminuido, y el latifundio ya no es visto como un factor relevante para el desarrollo económico. En su lugar, han surgido explicaciones que enfatizan el comercio internacional, las instituciones nacionales y la capacidad del estado de promover el desarrollo. El presente estudio argumenta que debemos volver a poner énfasis en el latifundio como explicación para el subdesarrollo en América Latina. Se señala la persistencia de ciertas relaciones de propiedad, el bajo uso de la tierra, y estrategias productivas extensivas a lo largo de la región como barreras al desarrollo económico. Datos estadísticos de censos agrarios y otras fuentes sobre el uso de la tierra sugieren que el problema del latifundio es todavía un factor relevante en la región, y continúa representando una barrera importante para la profundización de la industrialización.

Agrarian change through speculation: Rural elites as land brokers for mining in Colombia

“…; Rudas Lleras & Espitia Zamora, 2013). With the consolidation of the enclave economy model based on coal mining, a process of reconcentration of landed property relations began (see Table 2; Bernal Castillo, 2004, p. 78; Carlson, 2019, p. 687; Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo [PNUD], 2011).…”

A Historical Perspective on Land Tenure Security

“…Note that there are important synergies with vertical pressure. For example, in Latin America the seizure of vast areas of the best lands for as pasture by rich landlords led to a growing number of land-poor and landless peasants competing for remaining land or migrating to cities (Carlson, 2019;Kay, 1997;Shaw, 1974). Land reforms that may have been able to redistribute lands to the rural poor instead avoided doing so in favor of colonizing rainforest areas, which were lands often already customarilyheld by Indigenous groups (Jones, 1990).…”

What are indigenous and traditional populations? A relational approach to ethnic territories and conservation in Brazil

“…Since then, enormous areas of land on the western and eastern banks of the Paraguay River have been purchased by wealthy investors from urban areas of the industrial Southeast region for the purpose of setting up private nature reserves. Under the umbrella of conservation and environmental compensation, historic ranches of the Pantanal were acquired and consolidated into enormous land holdings which could double as hobby ranches, fishing camps or mere repositories of value masquerading as private conservation units, all of which contributed to what Carlson (2019) called the return of the latifundium in Latin America, under the guise of green accumulation (Büscher and Fletcher, 2014).…”