Sunday, May 24, 2020

Gandhis principles of simple living Essay - 2041 Words

Gandhi: A Man of Principle George C. Wallace, the United States Secretary of State when Mohandas K. Gandhi was assassinated, said that Gandhi â€Å"had become a spokesman for the conscience of all mankind-a man who made humility and simple truth more powerful than empires† (Gandhi, np). Gandhi is well known for his leadership in the liberation of India from Britain, but his main goal and message transcends beyond the acts he did, into everyday living. Gandhi promoted simple living, non-violence, and forgiveness as a way to unite all people peacefully. These principles helped him to liberate his people and to teach them a lesson that all can learn. Much of Gandhi’s philosophy is rooted in what he learned as a child. From his†¦show more content†¦Gandhi was celibate for over four decades. He strived for a more simple life in order to have more time for community service. He gave back all compensation, including gifts that were given to him. His goal in living simply was to know his own heart and to reach the hearts of others (Leigh, np). Gandhi would never let another person serve him, not even a servant; he always served them (Gandhi, np). Gandhi taught that happiness does not come with things, but with work and pride in what you do. Knowing this, it was necessary for local skills to be revived in their community (Gandhi, np). Under British rule, Indian principles of simple living had been reduced. The Indians could be found adopting habits of the West such as expensive clothing and tea. They even ate meat, despite it being often against their religion (The Higher Taste, 28). In order for the country to gain independence from Britain, Gandhi realized that they must be independent economically. Gandhi walked the country, offering spinning wheels to people as an alternative to purchasing British goods (â€Å"Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi†, 203). Part of Gandhi’s goal in living simply was to unite people as equals. There were two kinds of slavery in India, as Gandhi claimed, the women and the Untouchables, the members of the exterior castes. He strived to end both (Gandhi, np). He saw women as people of great courage andShow MoreRelatedMartin Luther King Jr. And Gandhi1132 Words   |  5 PagesThere are always pros and cons to being a leader to millions, but Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi’s â€Å"non-traditional† non-violence philosophy triumphed over it all for the greater good of the people. â€Å"What is the philosophy of nonviolence?† According to Nonviolence on the Peace Pledge Union Website: Nonviolence means abstaining from the use of physical force to achieve an aim. It is a philosophy, a principle, and a practice. As an ethical philosophy, it upholds the view that moral behaviour excludesRead MoreGandhi : Gandhi And Essence Of His Movement1613 Words   |  7 Pagesfound many opportunities in his youth to meet people of all faiths. He had many Christian and Muslim friends, as well as being heavily influenced by Jainism in his youth. Gandhi probably took the religious principle of Ahimsa from his Jain neighbours, and from it developed his own famous principle of Satyagraha later on in his life. Gandhi hoped to win people over by changing their hearts and minds, and advocated non-violence in all things. He himself remained a committed Hindu throughout his lifeRead MoreMahatma Gandhi`s Philosophy of Modern Civiliciation Essay2780 Words   |  12 PagesHighlight and assess Gandhi’s critique of â€Å"modern civilization† and relate it to the debate about the nature and practice of development that surfaced with Gandhi’s 1945 exchange with Nehru [in Sudhir Chandra’s essay] and continue into the post-independence era is with us today. â€Å"Through the ‘successor’ †¦ Gandhi was pitted against a whole discourse which the ‘successor’ and virtually the whole country considered as the only rational mode of ordering life, be it individual or collective†Read MoreBiography of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi1995 Words   |  8 Pagesphrased that God is truth. In other cases the only visible change would turn this statement into Truth is God. Thus according to perception of belief of Gandhi Truth belongs to God (Fischer, 2002). The extent of overwhelming relationship of Gandhis quotes with truth was investigated by Joseph Lelyveld, who came to claim that Journalists were obliged by Gandhi not to phrase words exactly as Gandhi spoke but to phrase according to his will with editing and modification to the scripts (LelyveldRead MoreEssay on Mahatma Gandhi1642 Words   |  7 Pagesborn in the Porbandar city of Gujarat in october 2nd, 1869. His father name is Karamchand Gandhi, the diwan of Porbandar, and his wife, Putlibai. Since his mother was a Hindu of the Pranami Vaishnava order, Gandhi learned the tenets of non-injury to living beings, vegetarianism, fasting, mutual tolerance, etc, at a very tender age. Mohandas was married at the age of 13 to Kasturba Makhanji and had four sons. He passed the matriculation exam at Samaldas College of Bhavanagar. In the year 1888, GandhiRead MoreGandhi and the Foundations of a Bloodless Revolution Essay examples2464 Words   |  10 PagesGandhi is well-known for his view s on vegetarianism, birth control and the caste system. Most know about the peace-loving liberator of India, but what made Gandhi such a powerful force in the destiny of such a great nation? Many factors early in Gandhi’s life, such as his child-marriage, education, and experiences abroad, strongly influenced his philosophies and eventually compelled him to lead the non-violent movement, a â€Å"bloodless revolution,† that resulted in India’s independence. MohandasRead MoreMeaning of Ahimsa Essay1980 Words   |  8 PagesMeaning of Ahimsa Ahimsa is a Sanskrit term that translates roughly into non-injury to living beings or dynamic harmlessness. Ahimsa tends to evoke images of monks wearing cloths over their faces to avoid breathing microscopic beings and sweeping the insects off the path in front of them as they walk so they wont accidentally crush one under their feet. One cannot easily live in todays world without causing some harm to other beings Read MoreEssay on The Life Of Mahatma Ghandi3308 Words   |  14 Pagesminister) of Porbandar, did not have much in the way of a formal education but was an able administrator who knew how to steer his way between the capricious princes, their long-suffering subjects, and the headstrong British political officers in power. Gandhis mother, Putlibai, was completely absorbed in religion, did not care much for finery and jewelry, divided her time between her home and the temple, fasted frequently, and wore herself out in days and nights of nursing whenever there was sickness inRead MoreGandhi and the Journey of Independence2184 Words   |  9 Pagesof the century. This poor man has done what powerful political rulers couldn’t do. The Mahatma had fought and joined many Indians against the British Rule. Not giving up for years, he succeeded in gaining independence. This Essay will talk about Gandhi’s journey of leadership and Independence. It will first briefly talk about his youth and education, and then it will discuss the beginning of his experiences and lessons in life, where he got his ideas from. It will also include the main causes thatRead MoreNonviolence Movement : Is It Acceptable For People Throughout The World?1150 Words   |  5 Pagestheir requests known. Why is nonviolence so acceptable for people throughout the world? Smith (1969) professor of Philosophy at Yale University says: â€Å"On one hand, nonviolence as a form of response is adopted because it is dictated by a principle, the principle that violence is always to be avoided because in itself it is wrong and perpetuates the very divisiveness we are trying to overcome. On the other hand, nonviolence is not chosen for this reason alone. It is chosen because, as a matter of

Wednesday, May 13, 2020

Impact of Rhythm and Blues on African-American Culture Essay

Rhythm and blues, also known today as â€Å"R B†, has been one of the most influential genres of music within the African American Culture, and has evolved over many decades in style and sound. Emerging in the late 1940s rhythm and blues, sometimes called jump blues, became dominant black popular music during and after WWII. Rhythm and blues artists often sung about love, relationships, life troubles, and sometimes focused on segregation and race struggles. Rhythm and blues helped embody what was unique about black American culture and validate it as something distinctive and valuable. The term â€Å"rhythm and blues† was coined in 1947 by a white man named Jerry Wexler who was a reporter, editor, and writer for Billboard Magazine. The record†¦show more content†¦From the 1950s to the 1970s rhythm and blues bands usually consisted of piano, guitars, drums saxophone, bass, and were sometimes accompanied by background vocalists. New World Encyclopedia (2008) st ates As rhythm and blues combined the elements of jazz, gospel music and the blues, it thus created a very personalized form of melody and rhythm which has become known as one of the outstanding styles of American music. From jazz and its combination of African black folk music blended with European folk and pop music, rhythm and blues incorporated the syncopated beats supported by colorful chordal combinations to mirror the emotions and experiences of the composer and singer/musician. The term rhythm and blues has had several different meanings. In the early 1950s it applied to blues records, in the late 1950s it applied to electric blues along with gospel and soul, in the 1960s it was called soul music, and in the 1970s it was a blanket term for soul, funk, and disco. Much of the popular electric guitar-led blues bands like Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf, and BB King that came from Memphis and Chicago were considered rhythm and blues since they appealed to the older demographic. The br oadcasting and recording industries did not solely represent the conquering racial assumptions of the 1950s, they internalized them and helped to continue them. Racial conventions permeated the organization and structure of the music industry at every level. The very existenceShow MoreRelatedAfrican American Music Culture1490 Words   |  6 PagesAfrican American Music Culture Jakiella James â€Å"African-American gospel music is a major influence in nearly all genres of modern popular music, from rhythm ‘n blues to jazz, from soul to rock ‘n roll. The musical genre is a unique expression of the black experience in America? The emotionally-charged, wailing vocals and syncopated rhythms give the music a distinctive style. The singing is accompanied not only by instrumentals, but often also by hand-clapping, foot-stomping and shoutingRead MoreJazz And Jazz Culture1273 Words   |  6 PagesWhat is culture? What is African culture? What is Jazz music and where did it come from? How can one culture, in a sense, impact the musical landscape of the whole Western world and eventually assimilate into ‘pop’ culture? If we want to truly understand jazz and it’s concepts, we have to navigate through history and explore it’s roots. Simply put, jazz is African American music, and the genre, as we know, formed in New Orleans. However, the origins of jazz started well before then, in Africa. TheRead MoreAspects Of Langston Hughes And The Harlem Renaissance755 Words   |  4 PagesAlthough it was a time of great discrimination, the Harlem Renaissance was a time of emergence for African Americans artists. Several writers such as Langston Hughes emerged during this period. African American writers who emerged during the Harlem Renaissance were heroes to lower-class blacks living in Harlem. Langston Hughes was a household name amongst the lower-class during the Harlem Renaissance. Hughes’s poetry was strongly influenced by the Harlem Renaissance because of his love for the blackRead MoreThe Legacy Of Soul Music1509 Words   |  7 Pagesthe music industry. This may be due to the fact that soul has had a huge impact upon other genres. Shuker defines soul as a â€Å"secular version of gospel, soul was the major black musical form of the 1960s and 1970s and remained evident in various hybrid styles since, for example, contempor ary neo-soul and soul jazz (312). The history of soul music is notable for producing a range of artists who have assisted African-American societies with societal and political issues through the rise and fall ofRead MoreEssay on Comparing the Poetry of Lanston Hughes and Countee Cullen842 Words   |  4 PagesCullen seem very clear. Hughes writes in rhythm, while Cullens writes in rhyme, but those are just the stylistic differences. Hughes and Cullen may write poems in a different style but they both write about similar themes. The time they wrote in was during the Harlem Renaissance, a time period when African Americans were discovering their heritage and trying to become accepted in the once white dominated society. The African Americans had their own cultures and their own style of music and writingRead MoreAfrican American People Have Had It Rough For Years1522 Words   |  7 Pages PART 1- BLUES African American people have had it rough for years. But over time, they have influenced us beyond belief. One of the main things they influenced was music. So I am here to explain to you how the African American culture has done just that! For centuries, the color blue has been associated with sadness. ByRead MoreAfrican American Vernacular Traditions: Integrated Into Modern Culture1292 Words   |  6 PagesAfrican American Vernacular Traditions: Integrated Into Modern Culture African American vernacular traditions have been around for many centuries and still cease to exist in their culture. The vernacular traditions of the African Americans started when slaves were existent in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. It is believed that the slaves spoke a mix of Creole and partial English, in which they had to create in order to communicate between them discreetly. The vernacular traditions originatedRead MoreRagtime And Blues : The History And Their Influence On Jazz1581 Words   |  7 PagesRagtime and Blues: The History and Their Influence on Jazz In the city of New Orleans, from parades to clubs and from weddings to funerals, one element usually remained constant throughout all these events: the music that permeated the air. At most of these occasions, a band often performed as entertainment, providing many opportunities for musicians in the area to work. By the early 20th century, due to various factors such as mix of ethnicities and cultures with syncopated musical styles influencedRead MoreA Perspective Of Rock And Roll s Impact On Society1653 Words   |  7 PagesA Perspective of Rock and Roll’s Impact on Society â€Å"Rock and roll keeps you in a constant state of juvenile delinquency,† stated Eddie Spaghetti; this quote captures the essence of rock n roll. It speaks it s truth about the influence on attitudes towards authority and implies how society reacted to the new revolution created by Rock ‘n roll, transforming the world into what it has become today. The music affected how people used recreational drugs, having unmarried sex, and threatened the traditionalRead MoreAnalysis Of The Song Crazy Blues 1172 Words   |  5 PagesRyan Henderson Professor Johnson From The Phonograph to the Autotune Cylinder Report 2/8/15 Title of Recording: Crazy Blues Artist: Noble Sissle UCSB Cylinder Number: 9806 â€Å"Crazy Blues† by Noble Sissle is a cover of the song originally written by Perry Bradford. This timeless piece of history was first recorded on August 10th, 1920 by Mamie Smith and later released on as a vinyl record by Okeh Records.3 Smith’s version of the song was wildly successful, selling 75,000 copies in the first month

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Political economy of agrarian change Free Essays

string(77) " implementation far exceeds benefits of reform \(Rashid and Quibria, 1995\)\." Introduction Are redistributive land reforms possible and if so are they desirable today? Land reform (LR) is defined as a ‘legislation intended and likely to redistribute ownership of current farmland, and thus benefit the poor by raising their absolute and relative status, power, and/or income, compared with likely situations without the legislation’ (Lipton, 2009:124). Thus, land-based wealth and power are transferred from the monopoly control of private landed class to landless working poor. This, however, is far from being universal. We will write a custom essay sample on Political economy of agrarian change or any similar topic only for you Order Now LR has had a rollercoaster ride in the toolbox of development strategies from a panacea that would cure all ills and help replicate the successes of Japan and Korea, to venom that destroys property rights and creates unviable production units that lead to agricultural decline and urban migration as it has purportedly done in Latin America. The issue of LR is indeed complex and nuanced. A deeper understanding of LR, therefore, is imperative. This essay discusses the desirability and possibility of LR. On one spectrum, it will argue for the desirability of land reform in terms of efficiency and poverty reduction. On the other spectrum, it will venture arguments for the possibility of LR. It concludes that LR remains alive, active and acts as a beacon of hope for those with limited or no access to land. This essay begins assessing the possibility of LR in contemporary developing countries. It argues that LR is not only possible but an ongoing battle. It is back on the policy agenda of international development institutions since the 1990s and has not disappeared since then (Borras, 2010). It was in the mid-1990s when land struggles caught the attention of the world. Three of these were the most important, the Chiapas uprising in Mexico, the state-investigated land invasions by black landless poor of white commercial farms in Zimbabwe, and the resurgence of militant peasant land occupations in Brazil reminiscent of the actions by the peasant land of the 1950s but much greater in scale and political sophistication (Akram-Lodhi et al, 2007). While the international development community grappled with the meanings and implications of such complex conflicts, trans-national agrarian movements (TAMs) emerged (Borras, 2010). La Via Campesina (VC) is to be mentioned, beside the Internationa l Federation of Agricultural Producers and the IPC for Food Sovereignty. VC, for example, is an international movement of poor peasants and small farmers from the global South and North, which was established in 1993 as a critical response to neoliberalism and which is still very much active today (Ibid, 2010). VC validates what Ronald Herring (2003) observed, namely that LR was taken off the ‘policy agenda’ of national and international agencies in the 1980s, but never left the ‘political agendas’ of the peasants and their organisations. Herring explained that ‘even dead LR are not dead; they become nodes around which future peasant mobilisations emerge because promises unkept keep movements alive’ (Ibid, 2003: 123). Today, as in the case 50 years ago, severe poverty remains mainly rural with extreme land inequalities. As the World Bank study in 2003 shows 17.8% of the population in East and South East Asia live under 1.25$. The figure however is much higher for Latin America (38.6%) and drastic in Sub-Saharan Africa (50.3%). Further, though the LR thrust weakened from the mid-1970s, observers (de Janvry and Sadoulet,1989) saw factors tending to revive it. First, form the mid-1980s, spreading democracy and political organisation led to civil-society activism, including land invasions to press for enforcement of unimplemented LR laws (Binswanger-Mkhize, 2009). Second, growth of new markets induced many giant, near-feudal haciendas to become commercial farms; turned tied workers from feudal workers into casual, part-time employees, who are freer to press for LR (Bernstein, 2003). Third, in faster-growing countries, urban growth shifted visible poverty priorities at national levels from farms towards cities (Lipton, 2009). Thus, internal dynamics – urbanisation, unequal land and power distribution, and the expansion of democratic-consciousness among the rural population – supported, rather than kill, LR in twenty-first century. Since the Mexican revolution of 1910, internal dynamics decide whether LR slows, pauses, resumes or accelerates. Sometimes it was seen as complete, either having reached its limits or succumbed to limitations, mainly underperformance and unpopularity due to collectivist rather than distributives approaches (Olsen, 1971). But in no country did LR quite die or became impossible rather it has resumed or speeded up. Indeed in some countries LR sputtered on with many stops and starts. The timing of slowdowns or reversals varied, from 1910 in Mexico or 1973 in Chile. The timing of resumption or acceleration also varied, from the early 1990s in Brazil to 2006-08 in Bolivia and Venezuela (Sen, 1997). Many huge farms have partly transformed from haciendas to partly modernised commercial farms but gross, growth-inhibiting, and largely inherited land inequality remains unaddressed – making LR vital and crucial as ever. LR, therefore, is not impossible. Much had happened; some is happening now; more remains relevant and likely. Globally, LR recedes and advances, is fulfilled or abandoned, inspires new pressures and programmes or becomes dormant with old ones. Since LR is still not only possible today but also a burning issue, the question now is whether it is also desirable. Opponents of LR, for example, Lipton (2008) argue that with increased expansion of capitalism, large farms become more suitable than small farms – rendering LR superfluous. Worldwide, rapid technical change and globalisation confront farmers with transformed processing and marketing arrangements, often impinging on production. Larger farms are considered under these circumstances as more efficient, thus advantages of smallness are reversed by economic development, globalisation and supermarkets. Moreover, it is argued that LR is internally inconsistent often due to loopholes inserted by lawmakers under pressure from large landowners (Ibid, 2008). LR, so argued, gives ‘too’ much power to the state so that the goal of putting control of land in the hands of the poor is subverted, and the reform abused to extract enforced surplus from rural people, in cluding the poor. Also argued is that LR is politically infeasible because political and social costs of implementation far exceeds benefits of reform (Rashid and Quibria, 1995). You read "Political economy of agrarian change" in category "Essay examples" Yet, all these arguments considered are as amiss. There are two different discourses arguing in favour of LR. The one is Marxist, positivist, evolutionist, the other, neo-liberal and technocratic (Borras et al, 2010). The one has developed in Eastern and Central Europe during the late nineteenth century; the other after World War II in the technocratic language of development policy. Both traditions have resonances in today’s LR debate, however with competing political ideologies, reasoning, and conclusions. While it must be acknowledged that the debate about LR also includes institutional economics or livelihood economics, a further inquiry thereof is beyond the scope of this essay (Cousins et al., 2010). The main neo-liberal argument for LR lies in the inverse-relationship paradigm (IR) (Deiniger, 1999). The rationale is that small scale farmers are residual claimants to profits and have an incentive to provide greater efforts in the process of production. The reason for this is the following: small farms have advantages in managing labour, but larger farms in managing capital. Capital and large-farm advantage loom larger as a source of higher land productivity in developed, labour scarce rural areas; labour, and small-farm advantage, count for more in developing, capital scarce countries. Griffin, Khan and Ickowitz (2002) conclude that since the ratio of interest rates to wages is relatively low in large farms with access to credit, they tend to adopt relatively more capital intensive method of production. Small farmers on the other hand, so argued, tend to have worse access to capital and therefore tend to economize on it by adopting relatively more labour intensive technology. Sma ll farmers, therefore, generate more employment. Since the factor proportions are typically skewed in favour of labour as the abundant, small farms utilize resources more efficiently. Following this line of reasoning, there appears to be a clear policy outcome; economic policies should be geared towards reallocating land away from large farm holdings to small family farms since it is the most effective means of boosting efficiency and output. The desirability of LR based on IR, however, is disputable. Today, it is assumed that the connection between size and productivity is fallacious – even among neo-liberal economists. While the World Bank supported the IR in 1975, it now claims that ‘land ownership ceiling have been generally ineffective†¦to facilitate the break-up of big farms, and instead have led to red tapes, spurious subdivisions, and corruption’ (Binswanger-Mkhize, 2009). To argue further, IR paradigm suffers from methodological shortcomings – semantic relativism. What is a ‘small’ farmThere is no general consensus on this and it varies with each case study on IR. For example, Van Zyl (1996) conducted a study into South African agriculture in which he stated that, ‘significant efficiency gains can be made if farm sizes in the commercial sector become smaller (in Sender and Johnston, 2004:152). However, the definition of a ‘small farm’ used in this st udy was one with over 500 hectares. To argue that a 500 hectare farm is a ‘small’ scale farm is preposterous when compared to a small farm in Bangladesh which normally counts for 1-2 hectare (Khan, 2004). The term ‘small’ is used ambiguously in many investigations into agriculture and productivity. Therefore, until there is a clear definition of what constitutes a ‘small’ farm, it is difficult to accept evidence about higher productivity on ‘small’ farms without a pinch of salt. Second, IR suffers from theoretical limitations. IR ignores peasant differentiation and differences in land quality (Byres, 2004b). Small peasants are not heterogeneous. In each size group, some farms are run and worked by kin, others by employees; some are remote, others peri-urban; some have favourable land, others not, some are well-managed, others not. Simple measures, which regress annual farm output per hectare against farm size, miss out these factors. In statistics term, the ‘bivariate’ IR hides ‘missing variables’, and thus hides ‘unobserved heterogeneity’ within farm size-groups (Dyer, 2004). Moreover, smaller farms may have higher output per hectare, not because of its smallness, but because of its higher land-water quality (Ibid, 2004). Small farm land with poor soil quality can not be a guarantee for higher agricultural output. The desirability of LR from a Marxist perspective, however takes a different stance. According to political economists, LR’s desirability lies in its contribution to the resolution of the agrarian question (AQ). The AQ constitutes ‘the continued existence in the countryside, in a substantive sense, of obstacles to an unleashing of accumulation in both the countryside itself and more generally — in particular, the accumulation associated with capitalist industrialisation’ (Byres, 2004a).Byres’ definition demonstrates the historical contribution of LR to develop capitalist economies. It was LR that unleashed the forces of production necessary for a ‘primitive accumulation’ by eroding feudal and semi-feudal relations of production and replacing them with a class of capitalist farmers and one of wage labourers. The resolution of the AQ was achieved in a variety of ways, ‘from above’, as in the case of nineteenth century Prussia, where a land owning class metamorphosed into an agrarian capitalist class, or ‘from below’ in America, where peasants differentiate themselves over time into classes of agrarian capital (Ibid, 2004a). To destroy the power of pre-capitalist property class, LR is required. The function of LR in this context, therefore, lies in its contribution as the promoter of capitalism in pre-capitalist areas. Contemporary AQ, however, is centred on the crisis of the reproduction of increasingly fragmented classes of labour within a capitalist system (Bernstein, 2009). Here, the desirability of LR is argued on the basis of securing the livelihood of peasants. Land is seen as ‘a basic livelihood asset, the principal form of natural capital from which people produce food and earn a living’ (Cousins et al 2010:32). Land also ‘provides a supplementary source of livelihoods for rural workers and the urban poor’ and ‘as a heritable asset, land is the basis for the wealth and livelihood security of future rural generations’ (Ibid, 2010:33). Moreover, Kay (1988) buttresses LR by arguing that small-scale farming is multiplier-rich. LR enhances growth for the overall economy because family farmers spend more of their incomes in the locally produced goods than do larger farms, creating a positive relationship between family farms and non-farm incomes in the loca l economy. In China, for instance, access to land enabled peasants to take increased risk and move into non-farm activities which produced the boom in small-scale entrepreneurship (Bramall, 2004). From a Marxist perspective henceforth, desirability of LR not only results in capital accumulation but in improved prospects for the livelihood security of differentiated classes of labour, for whom farming may be only one source of income. So far we have considered the desirability of LR entirely from an economic perspective. Leaving this aside, LR has also major socio-political implications – buttressing the desirability argument. Advocates of political LR, appreciate, for instance, the dissolution of feudal relationships of production and excessively concentrated and exploitative elite power structures (Bhaduri, 1973). While the main goal of land reformers is to enhance the rural poor’s access to land, it is also to reduce poverty, inequality, and to increase liberty (Sen, 2001). Having land on their own, the poor rely less on non-farm employment, emergency loans, or trade with local ‘rural tyrants’ (Hall, 2004) who are almost always major land controllers, but often also employers, landlords, lenders with interlocking market power over things that the local poor can neither live without nor, in many cases readily get elsewhere. Political LR, also include the creation of political stability and peace. In post-conflict situations, this would suggest a focus on provision of land to war-veterans and people displaced by war. In Zimbabwe, for instance, LR focused on white-owned farms and exempted black owners from expropriation (Jacobs, 2000). In post-colonial situations, the political LR also included correcting the racial imbalance in land ownership (Algeria, East-Southern Africa) and empowering members of the new elite (Kenya and Zimbabwe) (Lipton, 2004). Therefore LR, apart from having economic benefits, contributes to unlock many of today’s rural societies from quasi-feudalism. LR – its desirability and possibility – has been hotly debated among various economic ideologies. Yet, in a world of continuing poverty and inequality, slow agricultural growth, changing economic structures, rapid urbanisation, profound challenges of climate structures, and rapid urbanisation, institutions, policies and pressures concerning access to and use of land are as important as ever. In the past century, LR played a central role in the time-paths of rural and national poverty, progress, freedom, conflict, and suffering. Arguing that LR is ‘passe’- is therefore erroneous. And such thinking underrates the reach of LR. LR, like education or tax reform, is a thrust towards more equitable and efficient distribution. The thrust weakens or strengthens with economic situations and power balances, but does not become impossible. For the next half-century at least, where agriculture continues central to the lives of the poor, the role of LR will not decline. Indeed growing populations, scarcer land, and the low and falling employment intensity of non-farm growth may well increase pressures for and resistance to LR. Although, it carries the potential for severe land conflicts, it nevertheless permits huge gains, in terms of liberty and peace as well as growth and reduced inequality. Bibliography Akram-Lodhi, A.H., Borras, M. Jr, Kay,C., and McKinley, T. (2007), Land, poverty and livelihoods in an era of globalization.London: Routledge. Bernstein, H. (2009), ‘Agrarian questions from transition to globalization’, in A Haroon Akram Lodhi and C Kay (eds), Peasants and Globalization. Political economy, rural transformation and the agrarian question, London: Routledge. Bernstein, H. (2003), ‘Land Reform in Southern Africa in World-Historical Perspective’, Review of African Political Economy, vol.30, no.96. Bhaduri, A. (1973), ‘A study in economic backwardness under semi-feudalism’. Economic Journal vol.5, no.83. Binswanger-Mkhize, H. P (2009), Agricultural Land Redistribution. Towards a Greater Consensus. Washington, D.C: World Bank. Bloch, M. (1964), Feudal Society: The growth of ties of dependence. Chicago: Chicago University Press. Borras, S., Kay C., and Lahiff E. (2007), ‘Market-Led Agrarian Reform: Policies, Performance and Prospects’, Third World Quarterly, vol.28, no.8. Borras, S., and Franco, J. (2010), ‘Contemporary Discourses and Contestations around Pro-poor Land Policies and Land Governance’, Journal of Agrarian Change, vol. 10, no.1. Borras, S. (2010), ‘The Politics of Transnational Agrarian Movements’, Development and Change, vol. 41, no.5. Bramall, C. (2004), ‘Chinese Land Reform in Long-Run Perspective and in the Wider East Asian Context’, Journal of Agrarian Change, vol.4, no 12. Byres, T.J. (2004a), ‘Neo-Classical Neo-populism 25 Years On: Deja vu and Deja Passe. Towards a Critique ’, Journal of Agrarian Change, vol. 4, no.12. Byres, T.J. (2004b), ‘Introduction: Contextualizing and Interrogating the GKI Case for Redistributive Land Reform’, Journal of Agrarian Change, vol. 4, no 12. Chimhowu, A. and Woodhouse, A. (2006), ‘Customary vs. Private Property RightsDynamics and Trajectories of Vernacular Land Markets in Sub-Saharan Africa’, Journal of Agrarian Change, vol.6, no.3. Cousins, B. and Scoones I. (2010), ‘Contested paradigms of ‘viability’ in redistributive land reform: perspectives from Southern Africa’. Journalof Peasant Studies, vol. 37, no. 1. Deininger, K. (1999), ‘Making Negotiated Land Reform Work: Initial Experience from Columbia, Brazil and South Africa’, World Bank Policy Research Working Paper, Washington D.C: World Bank. Deininger, K. (2003), Land Policies for Growth and Poverty Reduction. Washington, D.C: World Bank. Dyer, G. (2004), ‘Redistributive Land Reform: No April Rose. The Poverty of Berry and Cline and GKI on the Inverse Relationship’, Journal of Agrarian Change, vol.4., no12. De Janvry, A. and Sadoulet, E. (1989), ‘Path dependent policy reforms: from land reform to rural development in Columbia’, in Hoff et al., 2003, the Economics of Rural organisation: Theory, practise, and Policy. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Griffin, K., Khan, R., and Ickowitz, A.(2002), ‘Poverty and the Distribution of Land’, Journal of Agrarian Change, vol. 2, no.3 Griffin, K., Khan, A.R., and Ickowitz, A. (2004), ‘In Defence of Neo-Classical Neo-Populism’, Journal of Agrarian Change, vol. 4, no 3. Hall, R. (2004), ‘A Political Economy of Land Reform in South Africa’, Review of African Political Economy, vol.100, Herring, R. (2003) Carrots, Sticks and Ethnic Conflict: Rethinking Development Assistance. Michigan: University of Michigan Press. Jacobs, S. (2000), ‘Zimbabwe: Why Land Reform is a Gender Issue’, Sociological Research Online, vol. 5, no.2. Johnston, D. and Le Roux, H. (2007), ‘Leaving the Household out of Family Labour: The Implications for the Size-Efficiency Debate’, European Journal of Development Research. Kay, C. (1998), ‘Latin Americas agrarian reform: lights and shadows’. Land reform, Land Settlement and Co-operatives, vol.2, no.7. Kevane, M. and Gray, L.C. (1999), ‘A Woman’s Field is Made at Night: Gendered Land Rights and Norms in Burkina Faso’, Feminist Economics, vol. 5, no.1. Khan, M.H. (2004), ‘Power, Property Rights and the Issue of Land Reform: A General Case Illustrated with Reference to Bangladesh’, Journal of Agrarian Change, vol.4, no 12. Lipton M. (2009), Land Reform in Developing Countries. Property rights and property wrongs. London: Routledge. Manji, A. (2003), ‘Capital, Labour and Land Relations in Africa: A Gender Analysis of the World Bank’s Policy Research Report on Land Institutions and Land Policy’, Third World Quarterly, vol. 24, no.1. Olsen, M. (1971), The Logic of Collective Action: Public Goods and the Theory of Groups. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Peters, P. (2004), ‘Inequality and Social Conflict Over Land in Africa’, Journal of Agrarian Change, vol.4, no.3. Rashid, S. and Quibria, M. (1995), Critical Issues in Asia Development: Theories, Experiences and Policies. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Schultz, T. (1964) Transforming Traditional Agriculture. New Haven: Yale University Press. Sen, A. K. (1997), ‘Radical Needs and Moderate Reforms’, in J. Dreze and A.K Sen (eds), Indian Development: Selected Regional Perspectives, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Sen, A. K. (2001), Development as Freedom. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Sender, J. and Johnston, D. (2004), ‘Searching for a Weapon of Mass Production in Rural Africa: Unconvincing Arguments for Land Reform’, Journal of Agrarian Change, vol. 4, no.12. Vergera-Camus, L. (2009), ‘The MST and the EZLN struggle for land: new forms of peasant rebellions’, Journal of Agrarian Change, vol. 9, no.3. Walker, C. (2002). ‘Agrarian Change, Gender And Land Reform: A South African Case Study’, UNRISD Social Policy Development Programme, Paper no 10. Woodhouse, P. (2003), ‘African Enclosures: A Default Mode of Development’, World Development vol.31, no.10. How to cite Political economy of agrarian change, Essay examples

Political economy of agrarian change Free Essays

string(77) " implementation far exceeds benefits of reform \(Rashid and Quibria, 1995\)\." Introduction Are redistributive land reforms possible and if so are they desirable today? Land reform (LR) is defined as a ‘legislation intended and likely to redistribute ownership of current farmland, and thus benefit the poor by raising their absolute and relative status, power, and/or income, compared with likely situations without the legislation’ (Lipton, 2009:124). Thus, land-based wealth and power are transferred from the monopoly control of private landed class to landless working poor. This, however, is far from being universal. We will write a custom essay sample on Political economy of agrarian change or any similar topic only for you Order Now LR has had a rollercoaster ride in the toolbox of development strategies from a panacea that would cure all ills and help replicate the successes of Japan and Korea, to venom that destroys property rights and creates unviable production units that lead to agricultural decline and urban migration as it has purportedly done in Latin America. The issue of LR is indeed complex and nuanced. A deeper understanding of LR, therefore, is imperative. This essay discusses the desirability and possibility of LR. On one spectrum, it will argue for the desirability of land reform in terms of efficiency and poverty reduction. On the other spectrum, it will venture arguments for the possibility of LR. It concludes that LR remains alive, active and acts as a beacon of hope for those with limited or no access to land. This essay begins assessing the possibility of LR in contemporary developing countries. It argues that LR is not only possible but an ongoing battle. It is back on the policy agenda of international development institutions since the 1990s and has not disappeared since then (Borras, 2010). It was in the mid-1990s when land struggles caught the attention of the world. Three of these were the most important, the Chiapas uprising in Mexico, the state-investigated land invasions by black landless poor of white commercial farms in Zimbabwe, and the resurgence of militant peasant land occupations in Brazil reminiscent of the actions by the peasant land of the 1950s but much greater in scale and political sophistication (Akram-Lodhi et al, 2007). While the international development community grappled with the meanings and implications of such complex conflicts, trans-national agrarian movements (TAMs) emerged (Borras, 2010). La Via Campesina (VC) is to be mentioned, beside the Internationa l Federation of Agricultural Producers and the IPC for Food Sovereignty. VC, for example, is an international movement of poor peasants and small farmers from the global South and North, which was established in 1993 as a critical response to neoliberalism and which is still very much active today (Ibid, 2010). VC validates what Ronald Herring (2003) observed, namely that LR was taken off the ‘policy agenda’ of national and international agencies in the 1980s, but never left the ‘political agendas’ of the peasants and their organisations. Herring explained that ‘even dead LR are not dead; they become nodes around which future peasant mobilisations emerge because promises unkept keep movements alive’ (Ibid, 2003: 123). Today, as in the case 50 years ago, severe poverty remains mainly rural with extreme land inequalities. As the World Bank study in 2003 shows 17.8% of the population in East and South East Asia live under 1.25$. The figure however is much higher for Latin America (38.6%) and drastic in Sub-Saharan Africa (50.3%). Further, though the LR thrust weakened from the mid-1970s, observers (de Janvry and Sadoulet,1989) saw factors tending to revive it. First, form the mid-1980s, spreading democracy and political organisation led to civil-society activism, including land invasions to press for enforcement of unimplemented LR laws (Binswanger-Mkhize, 2009). Second, growth of new markets induced many giant, near-feudal haciendas to become commercial farms; turned tied workers from feudal workers into casual, part-time employees, who are freer to press for LR (Bernstein, 2003). Third, in faster-growing countries, urban growth shifted visible poverty priorities at national levels from farms towards cities (Lipton, 2009). Thus, internal dynamics – urbanisation, unequal land and power distribution, and the expansion of democratic-consciousness among the rural population – supported, rather than kill, LR in twenty-first century. Since the Mexican revolution of 1910, internal dynamics decide whether LR slows, pauses, resumes or accelerates. Sometimes it was seen as complete, either having reached its limits or succumbed to limitations, mainly underperformance and unpopularity due to collectivist rather than distributives approaches (Olsen, 1971). But in no country did LR quite die or became impossible rather it has resumed or speeded up. Indeed in some countries LR sputtered on with many stops and starts. The timing of slowdowns or reversals varied, from 1910 in Mexico or 1973 in Chile. The timing of resumption or acceleration also varied, from the early 1990s in Brazil to 2006-08 in Bolivia and Venezuela (Sen, 1997). Many huge farms have partly transformed from haciendas to partly modernised commercial farms but gross, growth-inhibiting, and largely inherited land inequality remains unaddressed – making LR vital and crucial as ever. LR, therefore, is not impossible. Much had happened; some is happening now; more remains relevant and likely. Globally, LR recedes and advances, is fulfilled or abandoned, inspires new pressures and programmes or becomes dormant with old ones. Since LR is still not only possible today but also a burning issue, the question now is whether it is also desirable. Opponents of LR, for example, Lipton (2008) argue that with increased expansion of capitalism, large farms become more suitable than small farms – rendering LR superfluous. Worldwide, rapid technical change and globalisation confront farmers with transformed processing and marketing arrangements, often impinging on production. Larger farms are considered under these circumstances as more efficient, thus advantages of smallness are reversed by economic development, globalisation and supermarkets. Moreover, it is argued that LR is internally inconsistent often due to loopholes inserted by lawmakers under pressure from large landowners (Ibid, 2008). LR, so argued, gives ‘too’ much power to the state so that the goal of putting control of land in the hands of the poor is subverted, and the reform abused to extract enforced surplus from rural people, in cluding the poor. Also argued is that LR is politically infeasible because political and social costs of implementation far exceeds benefits of reform (Rashid and Quibria, 1995). You read "Political economy of agrarian change" in category "Essay examples" Yet, all these arguments considered are as amiss. There are two different discourses arguing in favour of LR. The one is Marxist, positivist, evolutionist, the other, neo-liberal and technocratic (Borras et al, 2010). The one has developed in Eastern and Central Europe during the late nineteenth century; the other after World War II in the technocratic language of development policy. Both traditions have resonances in today’s LR debate, however with competing political ideologies, reasoning, and conclusions. While it must be acknowledged that the debate about LR also includes institutional economics or livelihood economics, a further inquiry thereof is beyond the scope of this essay (Cousins et al., 2010). The main neo-liberal argument for LR lies in the inverse-relationship paradigm (IR) (Deiniger, 1999). The rationale is that small scale farmers are residual claimants to profits and have an incentive to provide greater efforts in the process of production. The reason for this is the following: small farms have advantages in managing labour, but larger farms in managing capital. Capital and large-farm advantage loom larger as a source of higher land productivity in developed, labour scarce rural areas; labour, and small-farm advantage, count for more in developing, capital scarce countries. Griffin, Khan and Ickowitz (2002) conclude that since the ratio of interest rates to wages is relatively low in large farms with access to credit, they tend to adopt relatively more capital intensive method of production. Small farmers on the other hand, so argued, tend to have worse access to capital and therefore tend to economize on it by adopting relatively more labour intensive technology. Sma ll farmers, therefore, generate more employment. Since the factor proportions are typically skewed in favour of labour as the abundant, small farms utilize resources more efficiently. Following this line of reasoning, there appears to be a clear policy outcome; economic policies should be geared towards reallocating land away from large farm holdings to small family farms since it is the most effective means of boosting efficiency and output. The desirability of LR based on IR, however, is disputable. Today, it is assumed that the connection between size and productivity is fallacious – even among neo-liberal economists. While the World Bank supported the IR in 1975, it now claims that ‘land ownership ceiling have been generally ineffective†¦to facilitate the break-up of big farms, and instead have led to red tapes, spurious subdivisions, and corruption’ (Binswanger-Mkhize, 2009). To argue further, IR paradigm suffers from methodological shortcomings – semantic relativism. What is a ‘small’ farmThere is no general consensus on this and it varies with each case study on IR. For example, Van Zyl (1996) conducted a study into South African agriculture in which he stated that, ‘significant efficiency gains can be made if farm sizes in the commercial sector become smaller (in Sender and Johnston, 2004:152). However, the definition of a ‘small farm’ used in this st udy was one with over 500 hectares. To argue that a 500 hectare farm is a ‘small’ scale farm is preposterous when compared to a small farm in Bangladesh which normally counts for 1-2 hectare (Khan, 2004). The term ‘small’ is used ambiguously in many investigations into agriculture and productivity. Therefore, until there is a clear definition of what constitutes a ‘small’ farm, it is difficult to accept evidence about higher productivity on ‘small’ farms without a pinch of salt. Second, IR suffers from theoretical limitations. IR ignores peasant differentiation and differences in land quality (Byres, 2004b). Small peasants are not heterogeneous. In each size group, some farms are run and worked by kin, others by employees; some are remote, others peri-urban; some have favourable land, others not, some are well-managed, others not. Simple measures, which regress annual farm output per hectare against farm size, miss out these factors. In statistics term, the ‘bivariate’ IR hides ‘missing variables’, and thus hides ‘unobserved heterogeneity’ within farm size-groups (Dyer, 2004). Moreover, smaller farms may have higher output per hectare, not because of its smallness, but because of its higher land-water quality (Ibid, 2004). Small farm land with poor soil quality can not be a guarantee for higher agricultural output. The desirability of LR from a Marxist perspective, however takes a different stance. According to political economists, LR’s desirability lies in its contribution to the resolution of the agrarian question (AQ). The AQ constitutes ‘the continued existence in the countryside, in a substantive sense, of obstacles to an unleashing of accumulation in both the countryside itself and more generally — in particular, the accumulation associated with capitalist industrialisation’ (Byres, 2004a).Byres’ definition demonstrates the historical contribution of LR to develop capitalist economies. It was LR that unleashed the forces of production necessary for a ‘primitive accumulation’ by eroding feudal and semi-feudal relations of production and replacing them with a class of capitalist farmers and one of wage labourers. The resolution of the AQ was achieved in a variety of ways, ‘from above’, as in the case of nineteenth century Prussia, where a land owning class metamorphosed into an agrarian capitalist class, or ‘from below’ in America, where peasants differentiate themselves over time into classes of agrarian capital (Ibid, 2004a). To destroy the power of pre-capitalist property class, LR is required. The function of LR in this context, therefore, lies in its contribution as the promoter of capitalism in pre-capitalist areas. Contemporary AQ, however, is centred on the crisis of the reproduction of increasingly fragmented classes of labour within a capitalist system (Bernstein, 2009). Here, the desirability of LR is argued on the basis of securing the livelihood of peasants. Land is seen as ‘a basic livelihood asset, the principal form of natural capital from which people produce food and earn a living’ (Cousins et al 2010:32). Land also ‘provides a supplementary source of livelihoods for rural workers and the urban poor’ and ‘as a heritable asset, land is the basis for the wealth and livelihood security of future rural generations’ (Ibid, 2010:33). Moreover, Kay (1988) buttresses LR by arguing that small-scale farming is multiplier-rich. LR enhances growth for the overall economy because family farmers spend more of their incomes in the locally produced goods than do larger farms, creating a positive relationship between family farms and non-farm incomes in the loca l economy. In China, for instance, access to land enabled peasants to take increased risk and move into non-farm activities which produced the boom in small-scale entrepreneurship (Bramall, 2004). From a Marxist perspective henceforth, desirability of LR not only results in capital accumulation but in improved prospects for the livelihood security of differentiated classes of labour, for whom farming may be only one source of income. So far we have considered the desirability of LR entirely from an economic perspective. Leaving this aside, LR has also major socio-political implications – buttressing the desirability argument. Advocates of political LR, appreciate, for instance, the dissolution of feudal relationships of production and excessively concentrated and exploitative elite power structures (Bhaduri, 1973). While the main goal of land reformers is to enhance the rural poor’s access to land, it is also to reduce poverty, inequality, and to increase liberty (Sen, 2001). Having land on their own, the poor rely less on non-farm employment, emergency loans, or trade with local ‘rural tyrants’ (Hall, 2004) who are almost always major land controllers, but often also employers, landlords, lenders with interlocking market power over things that the local poor can neither live without nor, in many cases readily get elsewhere. Political LR, also include the creation of political stability and peace. In post-conflict situations, this would suggest a focus on provision of land to war-veterans and people displaced by war. In Zimbabwe, for instance, LR focused on white-owned farms and exempted black owners from expropriation (Jacobs, 2000). In post-colonial situations, the political LR also included correcting the racial imbalance in land ownership (Algeria, East-Southern Africa) and empowering members of the new elite (Kenya and Zimbabwe) (Lipton, 2004). Therefore LR, apart from having economic benefits, contributes to unlock many of today’s rural societies from quasi-feudalism. LR – its desirability and possibility – has been hotly debated among various economic ideologies. Yet, in a world of continuing poverty and inequality, slow agricultural growth, changing economic structures, rapid urbanisation, profound challenges of climate structures, and rapid urbanisation, institutions, policies and pressures concerning access to and use of land are as important as ever. In the past century, LR played a central role in the time-paths of rural and national poverty, progress, freedom, conflict, and suffering. Arguing that LR is ‘passe’- is therefore erroneous. And such thinking underrates the reach of LR. LR, like education or tax reform, is a thrust towards more equitable and efficient distribution. The thrust weakens or strengthens with economic situations and power balances, but does not become impossible. For the next half-century at least, where agriculture continues central to the lives of the poor, the role of LR will not decline. Indeed growing populations, scarcer land, and the low and falling employment intensity of non-farm growth may well increase pressures for and resistance to LR. Although, it carries the potential for severe land conflicts, it nevertheless permits huge gains, in terms of liberty and peace as well as growth and reduced inequality. Bibliography Akram-Lodhi, A.H., Borras, M. Jr, Kay,C., and McKinley, T. (2007), Land, poverty and livelihoods in an era of globalization.London: Routledge. Bernstein, H. (2009), ‘Agrarian questions from transition to globalization’, in A Haroon Akram Lodhi and C Kay (eds), Peasants and Globalization. Political economy, rural transformation and the agrarian question, London: Routledge. Bernstein, H. (2003), ‘Land Reform in Southern Africa in World-Historical Perspective’, Review of African Political Economy, vol.30, no.96. Bhaduri, A. (1973), ‘A study in economic backwardness under semi-feudalism’. Economic Journal vol.5, no.83. Binswanger-Mkhize, H. P (2009), Agricultural Land Redistribution. Towards a Greater Consensus. Washington, D.C: World Bank. Bloch, M. (1964), Feudal Society: The growth of ties of dependence. Chicago: Chicago University Press. Borras, S., Kay C., and Lahiff E. (2007), ‘Market-Led Agrarian Reform: Policies, Performance and Prospects’, Third World Quarterly, vol.28, no.8. Borras, S., and Franco, J. (2010), ‘Contemporary Discourses and Contestations around Pro-poor Land Policies and Land Governance’, Journal of Agrarian Change, vol. 10, no.1. Borras, S. (2010), ‘The Politics of Transnational Agrarian Movements’, Development and Change, vol. 41, no.5. Bramall, C. (2004), ‘Chinese Land Reform in Long-Run Perspective and in the Wider East Asian Context’, Journal of Agrarian Change, vol.4, no 12. Byres, T.J. (2004a), ‘Neo-Classical Neo-populism 25 Years On: Deja vu and Deja Passe. Towards a Critique ’, Journal of Agrarian Change, vol. 4, no.12. Byres, T.J. (2004b), ‘Introduction: Contextualizing and Interrogating the GKI Case for Redistributive Land Reform’, Journal of Agrarian Change, vol. 4, no 12. Chimhowu, A. and Woodhouse, A. (2006), ‘Customary vs. Private Property RightsDynamics and Trajectories of Vernacular Land Markets in Sub-Saharan Africa’, Journal of Agrarian Change, vol.6, no.3. Cousins, B. and Scoones I. (2010), ‘Contested paradigms of ‘viability’ in redistributive land reform: perspectives from Southern Africa’. Journalof Peasant Studies, vol. 37, no. 1. Deininger, K. (1999), ‘Making Negotiated Land Reform Work: Initial Experience from Columbia, Brazil and South Africa’, World Bank Policy Research Working Paper, Washington D.C: World Bank. Deininger, K. (2003), Land Policies for Growth and Poverty Reduction. Washington, D.C: World Bank. Dyer, G. (2004), ‘Redistributive Land Reform: No April Rose. The Poverty of Berry and Cline and GKI on the Inverse Relationship’, Journal of Agrarian Change, vol.4., no12. De Janvry, A. and Sadoulet, E. (1989), ‘Path dependent policy reforms: from land reform to rural development in Columbia’, in Hoff et al., 2003, the Economics of Rural organisation: Theory, practise, and Policy. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Griffin, K., Khan, R., and Ickowitz, A.(2002), ‘Poverty and the Distribution of Land’, Journal of Agrarian Change, vol. 2, no.3 Griffin, K., Khan, A.R., and Ickowitz, A. (2004), ‘In Defence of Neo-Classical Neo-Populism’, Journal of Agrarian Change, vol. 4, no 3. Hall, R. (2004), ‘A Political Economy of Land Reform in South Africa’, Review of African Political Economy, vol.100, Herring, R. (2003) Carrots, Sticks and Ethnic Conflict: Rethinking Development Assistance. Michigan: University of Michigan Press. Jacobs, S. (2000), ‘Zimbabwe: Why Land Reform is a Gender Issue’, Sociological Research Online, vol. 5, no.2. Johnston, D. and Le Roux, H. (2007), ‘Leaving the Household out of Family Labour: The Implications for the Size-Efficiency Debate’, European Journal of Development Research. Kay, C. (1998), ‘Latin Americas agrarian reform: lights and shadows’. Land reform, Land Settlement and Co-operatives, vol.2, no.7. Kevane, M. and Gray, L.C. (1999), ‘A Woman’s Field is Made at Night: Gendered Land Rights and Norms in Burkina Faso’, Feminist Economics, vol. 5, no.1. Khan, M.H. (2004), ‘Power, Property Rights and the Issue of Land Reform: A General Case Illustrated with Reference to Bangladesh’, Journal of Agrarian Change, vol.4, no 12. Lipton M. (2009), Land Reform in Developing Countries. Property rights and property wrongs. London: Routledge. Manji, A. (2003), ‘Capital, Labour and Land Relations in Africa: A Gender Analysis of the World Bank’s Policy Research Report on Land Institutions and Land Policy’, Third World Quarterly, vol. 24, no.1. Olsen, M. (1971), The Logic of Collective Action: Public Goods and the Theory of Groups. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Peters, P. (2004), ‘Inequality and Social Conflict Over Land in Africa’, Journal of Agrarian Change, vol.4, no.3. Rashid, S. and Quibria, M. (1995), Critical Issues in Asia Development: Theories, Experiences and Policies. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Schultz, T. (1964) Transforming Traditional Agriculture. New Haven: Yale University Press. Sen, A. K. (1997), ‘Radical Needs and Moderate Reforms’, in J. Dreze and A.K Sen (eds), Indian Development: Selected Regional Perspectives, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Sen, A. K. (2001), Development as Freedom. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Sender, J. and Johnston, D. (2004), ‘Searching for a Weapon of Mass Production in Rural Africa: Unconvincing Arguments for Land Reform’, Journal of Agrarian Change, vol. 4, no.12. Vergera-Camus, L. (2009), ‘The MST and the EZLN struggle for land: new forms of peasant rebellions’, Journal of Agrarian Change, vol. 9, no.3. Walker, C. (2002). ‘Agrarian Change, Gender And Land Reform: A South African Case Study’, UNRISD Social Policy Development Programme, Paper no 10. Woodhouse, P. (2003), ‘African Enclosures: A Default Mode of Development’, World Development vol.31, no.10. How to cite Political economy of agrarian change, Essay examples

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Question: Write a Culture and Health Reflective Assignment. Answer: During my study in nursing I was been very significant about my experience and awareness about the aboriginal peoples. Also, my personal outlooks have been affected significantly in the span of this semester. This unit played a pivotal role in enhancing my cognition and awareness on indigenous population of Australia, and their historical backgrounds. There also has been quite a change in my response towards this unit from how I initially expected it, and have repeatedly triggered my emotions. Learning about the plight of the children in these indigenous communities was really horrific and heart touching. This is the place where adoption becomes possibly the most important factor, I believe. In the past, the people from these indigenous or native communities were required to give up their customs and culture in order to amalgamate with the western culture and way of life, hoping that they would be able to acclimatize. In 1951 this was even adopted as an official government strategy. I was truly shocked to learn about the fate of those youngsters who were taken by social service workers. The children were made to live with white people as slaves and often would face sexual assault, instead of being put in better families providing emotional support. The families of these Aboriginal children would also be lied to with misinformation about the jobs their children are involved in, not knowing that the kids would end up being slaves to well to do Caucasian families. These made me realize that I have been consistently fed wrong information about the history of the country I belong to (Camer on et al., 2014). The frameworks used for the analysis of the culture are known as knowing framework. It has 4 components knowing how, knowing what, knowing why and knowing one. Indigenous Australian culture is both very rich and diverse, and the Australian Aborigines, having a history of more than 50,000 years are one of the oldest and the most established of the known tribes in existence. Their success of survival can be contributed to their ability to evolve to adjust to changes over time. Their legacy is kept alive by the transfer of knowledge, insights, exhibitions and customs to the young members of the community. The essential prosperity of the Aboriginal individuals is their territory, its condition that managed by the general population and culture, loaded with profound prosperity (Smith et al., 2015). Native individuals were seeker assembles who rummaged for uncultivated plant and wild creatures. The customary eating regimen was high in starches, proteins and supplements and low in fat and sugars. The present day Aboriginal eating routine are vigorously westernized and have a tendency to be high in fat and sugar yet low in starch, fibre and fats (Garcia et al., 2016). Acquiring the change in the state of wellbeing of indigenous peoples was considered a matter of reputation for the Australian government. Difference in the state of prosperity between the local and non local population was barred for a long time. The United Nations considered this as a source of strain on the Human Rights of these groups. The speculation of communal elements assist to see that prosperity of people and confirmation of awkwardness is done by different social parts, consistently. Additionally, human right laws makes it necessary for each benefit to be interconnected and affecting the scope of a particular law, and impacting the adaptability of few other laws. Therefore, because of the agreed importance, a discussion of human rights can help in identifying the potential consequences of prosperity in lieu of the undertakings and the course of action of the governing bodies in the local communities (Ramraj et al., 2016). Some applicable sources of disparity among the wellbeing of the indigenous and native Australians includes the non participation and the lack of similar openness towards improving the level of well being and the essential care, compared to the non- native population of Australia. It is seen that the Australian Native and Indigenous populace, are not open to the idea of attaining an equal chance to be similar to the non native population. Regarding the matter of strong family ties, amid my last situation, there was a native patient who was regularly gone by such expansive gatherings of individuals that it would overpower medical attendants who trusted it was ruining conveyance of care (Santoro Kennedy, 2016). While I valued their help and solidarity, I too felt like they were hindering consideration, until I later learnt from the patient that as a general rule, the general population going to were normally not close family but rather group individuals, out of social obligation. To enhance my nursing practice, I plan to recognize the indigenous Australians estimation of group ties, now that I have more knowledge on their group character. The rate of advancement was perceived as inadequate, in the past couple of decades, to diminish the awkward differences among the Australian local and the indigenous. As an example, an incorporation along whole deal estimations such as the future estimate. Although developmental measures were made in improve the prosperity status of the Australian Indigenous and local communities, they were never at par with the hasty capture in prosperity seen in the comprehensive population. The mortality risks due to cardiovascular diseases and dysfunctions have reduced by 30% since 1991 within the comprehensive group (Eades, 2015). Type II diabetes is right now perceived as a critical medical issue for Indigenous Australians everywhere and particularly for those living in remote ranges, with the occurrence being three times progressively that of non-Indigenous Australians. While type II diabetes is connected to hereditary vulnerability, its improvement is fixing to poor way of life decisions like unfortunate sustenance and physical disability (Parker Milroy, 2014). Detachment of solid substances, for example, products of the soil in remote ranges, adds to utilization of handled nourishments high in sugar, salt and fats, expanding odds of type II diabetes, heart maladies and weight. Additionally, administration and treatment of type II diabetes can be troublesome in remote ranges because of detachment of wellbeing administrations. To address this medical problem for Indigenous patients, I would construct compatibility by really exhibiting a comprehension of their social foundation, by enquiring their individual advantages on issues, for example, family contribution in basic leadership. I would likewise concoct methods of teaching them on solid ways of life and administration of the condition. The experience of indigenous and local people concerning divergence within the condition of prosperity seems to be connected to the vital issue of partition. In the past the indigenous and local communities of Australia did not get the same opportunities of being as healthy and fir as the non-indigenous population. This was mostly owing to the inability of involve the proper organizational standards and a lack of transparency of the organizations involved in improving their prosperity (Lowell et al., 2015). This resulted in incorrect course of action in regards to the establishment and fundamental care of prosperity within the indigenous and local population of Australia. These aberrations were considered both as inefficient and avoidable. This legacy was tended to absolution, and a basic test for these people to receive maximum benefit from their right to prosperity. On each significant pointer, the indigenous populace of Australia is known for encountering a few financial inconveniences. According to National Census of 2001, normal total pay of families of the Australian native and indigenous populace was distinguished as $ 364 weekly, which is 62 for each penny earned by non-native populace at $ 585 weekly. According to a similar statistics, the amount of joblessness among indigenous populace was 20 for every penny, which is three times higher than the amount for the non-native populace of Australia (Newman et al., 2015). Relationship was shown by different investigations between the monetary and social condition of people and their overall wellbeing. Without a doubt, neediness is generally identified with impoverished level of wellbeing. A lack of proficiency and instruction are profoundly related with the impoverished status of wellbeing, and it affects the extent of people to utilize the framework of wellbeing and its maintenance. Poor level of wage brings about the diminishment of access towards prescriptions and administrations of medicinal services. Once-over lodging and stuffed regions are exceedingly identified with destitution and bring about contributing towards transmittable ailments being spread over (Lemelin, Koster Youroukos, 2015). These looks into have likewise depicted that poorer people additionally confront issue of less monetary help alongside the absence of a few other shape to control fitting level of prosperity. This has brought about the commitment of an immense weight on the unfortunate worry where long introduction on requests of brain research in which the odds of governing the occasion can be seen as confined and its conceivable outcomes about getting any compensation are few. Endless anxiety can impact the safe framework, metabolic capacities and circulatory framework by various hormonal ways and is identified with various medical problems because of circulatory sicknesses, aggressive behaviour at home, emotional well-being issues and a few different types of brokenness with the group (Baydala, Ruttan Starkes, 2015). Native and Torres Strait Islander individuals' wellbeing drawback should be considered in the more extensive setting of social inconvenience, imbalance and prohibition, political underestimation and the verifiable streams of imperialism. With a specific end goal to discover procedures for wellbeing administrations for the Indigenous Australian need to assess recorded, social, social and political factors so as to comprehend the wellbeing disservice looked by Aboriginal people groups in contemporary society. This improves our insight into unequal wellbeing results amongst Aboriginal and non - Aboriginal individuals by concentrating on the effects of social structures and social fittingness of human services administrations (Hill et al., 2014). While the reporters of indigenous populace have been featuring the medical advantages identified with society and culture in regards to availability to properties and lands, numerous conceivable effects of wellbeing can add opportunities to incorporate enhanced training/workout and eating regimen. It can also likewise contribute to reconnect the Australian native and indigenous populace, with the conventional bases of economy. And aligned with such a reality, one can reason that by providing assistance to the conventional culture which incorporates administrative framework and standard law practices, will favour enhancing the status of soundness of people living inside the secluded territories. Introducing developments in the condition of health among these aboriginal communities has been treated as a long lasting matter for the government of Australia. The difference seen in the state of health between the non aboriginal and the aboriginal populations throughout Australia can be considered as unacceptable since a very long time. The inequalities experienced by these aboriginal and indigenous populations are mostly related to the basic and systematic issue of discrimination. In the past decades, the aboriginal and indigenous population neither received nor could enjoy equal opportunities of healthy living as much the non-indigenous populations did in Australia. Studies done by several researches also show a correlation between the health condition of the native aboriginal population with the social and economic status of the individuals. Evidently, poor health is related to poverty, and economic instability (Greenwood et al., 2015). Similarly, low literacy levels and educat ional standards are also very much related to the impoverished health status, and can negatively affect the ability of individuals accessing health related information and infrastructure. References Baydala, L., Ruttan, L., Starkes, J. (2015). Community-based participatory research with Aboriginal children and their communities: Research principles, practice and the social determinants of health.First Peoples Child Family Review,10(2), 82-94. Cameron, B. L., Plazas, M. D. P. C., Salas, A. S., Bearskin, R. L. B., Hungler, K. (2014). Understanding inequalities in access to health care services for Aboriginal people: a call for nursing action. 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