A title deed = tenure security. Or does it? This book challenges this simple equation and its apparently self-evident assumptions. It argues that two very different property paradigms characterise South Africa.

The first is the dominant paradigm of private property, referred to as an ‘edifice’, against which all other property regimes are measured and ranked. However, the majority of South Africans gain access to land and housing through very different processes, which this book calls social or off-register tenures. These tenures are poorly understood, a gap Untitled aims to address. The book reveals that ‘informal’ and customary property systems can be well organised, often providing substantial tenure security, but lack official recognition and support. This makes them difficult to service and vulnerable to elite capture.

Policy interventions usually aim to formalise these arrangements by issuing title deeds. The case studies in this book, which span both rural and urban contexts in South Africa, examine these interventions and the unintended consequences they often give rise to. Interventions based on an understanding of locally embedded property relations are more likely to succeed than those that attempt to transform them into registered tenures. However, emerging practices hit intractable obstacles associated with the ‘edifice’, which only a substantial transformation of the legal paradigms can overcome.

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

The economic and political rise of the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), and powerful middle-income countries (MICs) such as Argentina, Indonesia and Turkey, has far-reaching implications for global agrarian transformation. These countries are key sites of agricultural commodity production, distribution, circulation and consumption and are contributing to major shifts in the character of agro-food systems. This comprehensive collection explores these issues through the lens of critical agrarian studies, which examine fundamental social change in, and in relation to, rural worlds. The authors explore key themes such as the processes of agrarian change associated with individual countries within the grouping, the role and impact of BRICS countries within their respective regions, the role of other MICs within these regions and the rising importance of MICs within global and regional agro-food systems. The book encompasses a wide variety of case studies, including the expansion of South African agrarian capital within Africa; Brazil as a regional agro-food power and its complex relationship with China, which has been investing heavily in Brazil; the role of BRICS and MICs in Bolivia's soy complex; crop booms within China; China's role in land deals in Southeast Asia; and Vietnamese investment in Cambodia. This book will be of interest to students and researchers of critical agrarian studies, with a focus on BRICS and MICs. It was originally published as a special issue of the journal Globalizations.

This book completes the series of readers for the Open University's undergraduate course EU208 Exploring Educational Issues. It brings together informed writings from a variety of research paradigms. One of the major themes of the book is the current controversy over early years education. It explores the nursery voucher scheme, the relationship between school and parents, the goals of education, and how quality can be controlled. The book also examines issues of inequality in terms of class, race and gender, and offers readers a chance to re-evaluate themselves and their children within new frameworks of thought, practice and policy.

It is not only the UK education system which has recently undergone a process of change, although it has certainly been one of the most dramatically affected. Free market conceptions have played their part in these changes, particularly throughout the European Union. This collection therefore focuses on the economic and social contexts for education both in the UK and internationally, and how these have had an impact on the education systems of different countries. The authors write from a wide range of standpoints, some supportive and some critical of the new paradigms, but all focus on the traditions which have been subjected to ideological attacks, and in the processes and outcomes of those attacks.

This book completes the series of readers for the Open University's undergraduate course EU208 Exploring Educational Issues. It brings together informed writings from a variety of research paradigms.
One of the major themes of the book is the current controversy over early years education. It explores the nursery voucher scheme, the relationship between school and parents, the goals of education, and how quality can be controlled.
The book also examines issues of inequality in terms of class, race and gender, and offers readers a chance to re-evaluate themselves and their children within new frameworks of thought, practice and policy.

It is not only the UK education system which has recently undergone a process of change, although it has certainly been one of the most dramatically affected. Free market conceptions have played their part in these changes, particularly throughout the European Union. This collection therefore focuses on the economic and social contexts for education both in the UK and internationally, and how these have had an impact on the education systems of different countries.
The authors write from a wide range of standpoints, some supportive and some critical of the new paradigms, but all focus on the traditions which have been subjected to ideological attacks, and in the processes and outcomes of those attacks.

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

The economic and political rise of the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), and powerful middle-income countries (MICs) such as Argentina, Indonesia and Turkey, has far-reaching implications for global agrarian transformation. These countries are key sites of agricultural commodity production, distribution, circulation and consumption and are contributing to major shifts in the character of agro-food systems. This comprehensive collection explores these issues through the lens of critical agrarian studies, which examine fundamental social change in, and in relation to, rural worlds. The authors explore key themes such as the processes of agrarian change associated with individual countries within the grouping, the role and impact of BRICS countries within their respective regions, the role of other MICs within these regions and the rising importance of MICs within global and regional agro-food systems. The book encompasses a wide variety of case studies, including the expansion of South African agrarian capital within Africa; Brazil as a regional agro-food power and its complex relationship with China, which has been investing heavily in Brazil; the role of BRICS and MICs in Bolivia's soy complex; crop booms within China; China's role in land deals in Southeast Asia; and Vietnamese investment in Cambodia. This book will be of interest to students and researchers of critical agrarian studies, with a focus on BRICS and MICs. It was originally published as a special issue of the journal Globalizations.

The embrace of socio-economic rights in South Africa has featured prominently in scholarship on constitution making, legal jurisprudence and social mobilisation. But the development has attracted critics who claim that this turn to rights has not generated social transformation in practice. This book sets out to assess one part of the puzzle and asks what has been the role and impact of socio-economic strategies used by civil society actors. Focusing on a range of socio-economic rights and national trends in law and political economy, the book's authors show how socio-economic rights have influenced the development of civil society discourse and action. The evidence suggests that some strategies have achieved material and political impact but this is conditional on the nature of the claim, degree of mobilisation and alliance building, and underlying constraints.

Notions of land and agrarian reform are now well entrenched in post-apartheid South Africa. But what this reform actually means for everyday life is not clearly understood, nor the way it will impact on the political economy. In the Shadow of Policy explores the interface between the policy of land and agrarian reform and its implementation; and between the decisions of policy 'experts' and actual livelihood experiences in the fields and homesteads of land reform projects. Starting with an overview of the socio-historical context in which land and agrarian reform policy has evolved in South Africa, the volume presents empirical case studies of land reform projects in the Northern, Western and Eastern Cape provinces. These draw on multiple voices from various sectors and provide a rich source of material and critical reflections to inform future policy and research agendas. In the Shadow of Policy will be a key reference tool for those working in the area of development studies and land policy, and for civil society groups and NGOs involved in land restitution.

While disappointment with South Africa's land reform program is widespread, the discussions as to why and in what way tend to be too general or shallow to be either fully convincing or useful. "Land Reform and Livelihoods" seeks to sharpen our understanding of how land reform does or does not work. In doing so, it helps us appreciate to what extent land reform is contributing to poverty reduction, and to what extent it might contribute to reduce poverty even more if we approached it differently.

The embrace of socio-economic rights in South Africa has featured prominently in scholarship on constitution making, legal jurisprudence and social mobilisation. But the development has attracted critics who claim that this turn to rights has not generated social transformation in practice. This book sets out to assess one part of the puzzle and asks what has been the role and impact of socio-economic strategies used by civil society actors. Focusing on a range of socio-economic rights and national trends in law and political economy, the book's authors show how socio-economic rights have influenced the development of civil society discourse and action. The evidence suggests that some strategies have achieved material and political impact but this is conditional on the nature of the claim, degree of mobilisation and alliance building, and underlying constraints.