Understanding Land Grabs in Africa: Insights from Marxist and Georgist Political Economics

Abstract

Research on current land grabs in Africa has proliferated. Yet, little work has been done explicitly reflecting on competing frameworks for analysing the phenomenon. This paper engages two contrasting approaches, namely Marxian and Georgist, assesses their relevance, and teases out insights for recent land grab research in Africa. It warns against any attempts at combining the 'best' elements in each approach, but demonstrates how these different perspectives can help re-theorise ongoing research on land grabs, especially in Africa.

Agrarian reforms in Africa 1980–2016: solution or evolution of the agrarian question?

“…The International Land Commission together with four other international agencies suggest that up to 70 million hectares in over thirty countries in Africa (the equivalent of the whole surface area of a country such as Zambia or Turkey) may have been leased or negotiated since 2007 (Deininger et al 2011;Cotula et al 2009;GTZ 2009; Alden Wily 2011a). 2 A theoretical debate has started to develop on land-grabbing and its current and future meaning for Africa (Peters 2013a;Baglioni and Gibbon 2013;Obeng-Odoom 2015). But this attention is also due to the numerous peasant struggles that have occurred as a result of land-grabbing, as this process is causing the expulsion of thousands of farming families and the subsequent exploitation of an increasing number of landless peasants (Matavel et al 2011;Hall et al 2015;GRAIN-UNAC 2015).…”

“…A theoretical debate has started to develop on land-grabbing and its current and future meaning for Africa (Peters 2013a; Baglioni and Gibbon 2013; Obeng-Odoom 2015). But this attention is also due to the numerous peasant struggles that have occurred as a result of land-grabbing, as this process is causing the expulsion of thousands of farming families and the subsequent exploitation of an increasing number of landless peasants (Matavel et al .…”

The Meaning, Prospects, and Future of the Commons: Revisiting the Legacies of Elinor Ostrom and Henry George

“…Yet, driven by the quest to disprove the “tragedy of the commons,” she turns her attention mainly to the internal forces of change. Ostrom ignores growing contemporary land and water grabs that have left many hungry, dispossessed, landless, and climate stricken (Elhardary and Obeng‐Odoom ; Obeng‐Odoom , ). For Ostrom and most of her followers, changes outside the commons constitute no problem as long as they do not emanate from internal overexploitation.…”

“…In modern times, particularly in Africa, tracts of land and bodies of water have been enclosed or “grabbed” through such processes, too, and a combination of them (Obeng‐Odoom )—a process that is ongoing with catastrophic consequences for economy, society, and environment. In Madagascar, for example, there was a coup d’état to protest the continuing privatization of the commons; many have died as a result of being denied access to the commons, indeed being removed from the commons, in turn, becoming landless, homeless, and hopeless (Obeng‐Odoom , ).…”

Africa’s Triple Heritage, Land Commodification and Women’s Access to Land: Lessons from Cameroon, Kenya and Sierra Leone

“…This is particularly true with the increasing trend towards land grabbing throughout the continent (see e.g. Obeng-Odoom, 2015;Verma, 2014). In this connection, as Verma (2014: 54) has observed, Terms such as land 'acquisition' and 'investments' are often conceptualized within narrow development framing narratives that privilege privatization, commoditization, enclosure, land markets, ….…”