In 2007, for the first time in human history, a majority of the world's population lived in cities. However, on a global scale, poverty overwhelmingly retains a rural face. This book assembles an unparalleled group of internationally-eminent scholars in the field of rural development and social change in order to explore historical and contemporary processes of agrarian change and transformation and their consequent impact upon the livelihoods, poverty and well-being of those who live in the countryside. The book provides a critical analysis of the extent to which rural development trajectories have in the past and are now promoting a change in rural production processes, the accumulation of rural resources, and shifts in rural politics, and the implications of such trajectories for peasant livelihoods and rural workers in an era of globalization. Peasants and Globalization thus explores continuity and change in the debate on the 'agrarian question', from its early formulation in the late 19th century to the continuing relevance it has in our times, including chapters from Terence Byres, Amiya Bagchi, Ellen Wood, Farshad Araghi, Henry Bernstein, Saturnino M Borras, Ray Kiely, Michael Watts and Philip McMichael. Collectively, the contributors argue that neoliberal social and economic policies have, in deepening the market imperative governing the contemporary world food system, not only failed to tackle to underlying causes of rural poverty but have indeed deepened the agrarian crisis currently confronting the livelihoods of peasant farmers and rural workers. This crisis does not go unchallenged, as rural social movements have emerged, for the first time, on a transnational scale. Confronting development policies that are unable to reduce, let alone eliminate, rural poverty, transnational rural social movements are attempting to construct a more just future for the world's farmers and rural workers.

A host of internationally eminent scholars are brought together here to explore the structural causes of rural poverty and income inequality, as well as the processes of social exclusion and political subordination encountered by the peasantry and rural workers across a wide range of countries.

This volume examines the intersection of politics and economics and provides a critical analysis and framework for the study of neo-liberal land policies in the current phase of globalization. Utilizing new empirical evidence from ten countries, it provides an in-depth analysis of key country studies, a comparative analysis of agrarian reforms and their impact on rural poverty in Africa, Asia, Latin America and transition countries.

Presenting an agrarian reform policy embedded in an appropriate development strategy, which is able to significantly reduce and hopefully eliminate rural poverty, this work is a key resource for postgraduate students studying in the areas of development economics, development studies and international political economy.

In 2007, for the first time in human history, a majority of the world's population lived in cities. However, on a global scale, poverty overwhelmingly retains a rural face. This book assembles an unparalleled group of internationally-eminent scholars in the field of rural development and social change in order to explore historical and contemporary processes of agrarian change and transformation and their consequent impact upon the livelihoods, poverty and well-being of those who live in the countryside. The book provides a critical analysis of the extent to which rural development trajectories have in the past and are now promoting a change in rural production processes, the accumulation of rural resources, and shifts in rural politics, and the implications of such trajectories for peasant livelihoods and rural workers in an era of globalization. Peasants and Globalization thus explores continuity and change in the debate on the 'agrarian question', from its early formulation in the late 19th century to the continuing relevance it has in our times, including chapters from Terence Byres, Amiya Bagchi, Ellen Wood, Farshad Araghi, Henry Bernstein, Saturnino M Borras, Ray Kiely, Michael Watts and Philip McMichael. Collectively, the contributors argue that neoliberal social and economic policies have, in deepening the market imperative governing the contemporary world food system, not only failed to tackle to underlying causes of rural poverty but have indeed deepened the agrarian crisis currently confronting the livelihoods of peasant farmers and rural workers. This crisis does not go unchallenged, as rural social movements have emerged, for the first time, on a transnational scale. Confronting development policies that are unable to reduce, let alone eliminate, rural poverty, transnational rural social movements are attempting to construct a more just future for the world's farmers and rural workers.

A host of internationally eminent scholars are brought together here to explore the structural causes of rural poverty and income inequality, as well as the processes of social exclusion and political subordination encountered by the peasantry and rural workers across a wide range of countries. This volume examines the intersection of politics and economics and provides a critical analysis and framework for the study of neo-liberal land policies in the current phase of globalization. Utilizing new empirical evidence from ten countries, it provides an in-depth analysis of key country studies, a comparative analysis of agrarian reforms and their impact on rural poverty in Africa, Asia, Latin America and transition countries. Presenting an agrarian reform policy embedded in an appropriate development strategy, which is able to significantly reduce and hopefully eliminate rural poverty, this work is a key resource for postgraduate students studying in the areas of development economics, development studies and international political economy.

Hunger and obesity sit side by side in the world today because a food system dominated by wealth, markets and profits allows those with money to obtain above and beyond their needs while those without cannot get the fundamentals of life. The result is a growing polarization of global agriculture, between the haves and an ever-increasing number of have-nots. In "Hungry for Change," the author explains how capitalism was introduced into farming and how it transformed the terms and conditions by which farmers produce the food we eat.Written in accessible language and incorporating accounts from farmers and agricultural workers, "Hungry for Change" explains how the creation, structure and operation of the capitalist world food system is marginalizing family farmers, small-scale peasant farmers and landless rural workers as it entrenches us all in a global subsistence crisis. Building upon the idea of food sovereignty, Akram-Lodhi develops a set of solutions that together can resolve the current crisis of the world food system.

Over the course of the last two decades, governments around the world implemented a fundamental shift in the mainstream economic policy and ushered in a period of globalization. These changes, which are commonly known as "neo-conservative," were resisted by a range of social forces, from workers to farmers, in the universities and on the streets. With its diverse international perspectives of globalization and formulations of alternative economic policies, this volume of essays responds to and posits alternatives for the uncreative and unjust policy decisions of world governments that negatively affect the welfare of the world's indigent people. This book's unifying theme is the principle of social justice that motivates Loxley's life and work. Loxley, an economist, is perhaps best known for his work in South Africa (as an advisor to Nelson Mandela during the transition from apartheid) and with First Nations communities in his native Canada. Many of the 19 essays explore the impact of globalization on the developing world, particularly Africa. A comprehensive and expansive exploration of the global impact of neo-conservative economic policies from an internationally diverse group of scholarly voices.