Research Articles (PLAAS)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10566/629

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The wilderness fetish: The mystification of nature conservation in the age of capital
(SAGE Publications Inc., 2026) Greiner, Clemens; Standop, Manuel
Recent proposals for large-scale nature conservation, such as Half-Earth (Socialism) or the 30 × 30 agenda, rely on a distorted notion of nature as a pristine realm untouched by human influence. This idea, which we term the ‘wilderness fetish’, builds on the historically produced separation of nature and society central to capitalist modes of accumulation. In upholding a moral and aesthetic ideal of untouched nature, the wilderness fetish conceals the material and social relations involved in the production and conservation of ‘the wild’ and its own socio-historical genesis. We argue that the wilderness fetish gained traction at the precise moment when the search for capitalist solutions to the capitalogenic crises of climate change, biodiversity loss, and ecological degradation intensified. Drawing on Marx's concept of the commodity fetish, we theorise the wilderness fetish as a category of both moral and economic value. It is inspired by, and complementary to, the concept of commodity fetishism, but takes shape in the domain of conservation. Under conditions of late capitalism, wilderness is produced and valorised, while simultaneously playing a pivotal role in ideological and material reproduction. Capitalism and conservation are deeply entangled by a fetishistic logic. Therefore, we foreground the importance of pursuing qualitative, rather than merely quantitative, changes to enable genuine social-ecological transformations for the future.
Patterns of marine resource conflicts across Africa highlight need for fair access and benefit sharing for a blue economy
(Cell Press, 2026) Mafaniso, Hara; Selig, Elizabeth R.; Sundnes, Frode
An increased focus on the blue economy across coastal African countries requires effective strategies for reducing marine resource conflicts to achieve goals of sustainable, equitable ocean development. We created a spatial database documenting marine resource conflicts (2008–2018) and conducted an expert survey to analyze patterns in conflict types and how they relate to actors, drivers, and resolution. Our findings indicate that 73% of conflicts were associated with access disputes and 28% were between non-fisheries sectors. National governments, small-scale or industrial fishers, and state enforcement agents were the most frequent actors. Illegal fishing, inequitable benefit distribution, and inadequate regulations were commonly reported conflict drivers. Less than one third of conflicts were resolved, but increased governance was cited as important for resolution. These results suggest policymakers may need to focus on access and benefit sharing issues and increase engagement of key actors in governance processes to realize blue economy ambitions.
Transition pathways from vulnerability to viability of small-scale fisheries in Africa and Asia
(John Wiley and Sons Inc, 2026) Muhl, Ella Kari; Armitage, Derek R.; Nayak, Prateep Kumar; Pradhan, Sisir Kanta; Abdelbaset, Maha; Adade, Richard; Akintola, Shehu Latunji; Arizi, Evans Kwasi; Attipoe, Esinam M.; Blythe, Jessica L.; Chuenpagdee, Ratana; Choudry, Anuradha; Bundy, Alida; Das, Basanta K.; Devi, Chitra; Fakoya, Kafayat Adetoun; Hara, Mafaniso Michael; Hossain, Shahriyer; Isaacs, Moeniba; Islam, Gazi Md Nurul; Kusumawardhani, Hapsari Ayu; Islam, Mohammad Mahmudal; Junrashote, Kungwan; Li, Yinji; Manase, Moffat Mzama; Mbaye, Ahmadou Aly; Kosamu, Ishmael Bobby Mphangwe; Mukherjee, Jenia; Namikawa, Tamano; Njaya, Friday J.; Odoi, Justice Odoiquaye; Prado, Deborah Santos; Rahman, Emon; Rouhani, Q. A.; Alam, Md Razin Saleh; Sall, Aliou; Sambou, Clément; Sammogam, Revarunan; Sarr, Alassane; Sarr, Khady Yama; Satumanatpan, Suvaluck; Ahmed Selim, Samiya Ahmed; Susilowati, Indah Suciati; Warren, Vannessa; Woiso, Julius Francis; Yahya, Batuli Mohammed; Islam, Mohammad Mahmudal
This perspective paper examines transition pathways that move small-scale fisheries from vulnerability towards viability. We understand ‘vulnerability to viability transition pathways’ as integrative and one that extends beyond economic concerns to include social, political, cultural and ecological aspects of small-scale fisheries. Our findings draw on a reflexive and qualitative assessment of country-specific case studies from across Africa and Asia to collaboratively identify transition pathways reflected in these contexts. Common pathways that emerged included: (1) building governance networks and partnerships; (2) centring small-scale fisheries tenure and rights; (3) advancing a gender and intersectional perspective on viability pathways; (4) enhancing opportunities for ecologically sensitive and diversified livelihoods; and (5) co-creating and co-producing the knowledge required to catalyse transition pathways. Outcomes of this analysis provide context-specific foundations upon which to further co-develop a research agenda on small-scale fisheries vulnerability to viability transitions. Insights from this analysis also contribute to the identification of the transdisciplinary capacities needed to build more viable and resilient small-scale fisheries in the context of ongoing debates about blue economy expansion, and in relation to country-level commitments to implement provisions of the FAO small-scale fisheries guidelines. In advancing a vulnerability to viability pathways lens, this paper frames small-scale fisheries transitions as governance-mediated, justice-oriented, relational and inherently non-linear processes. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.
Transition pathways from vulnerability to viability of small-scale fisheries in Africa and Asia
(John Wiley and Sons Inc, 2026) Muhl, Ella-Kari; Armitage, Derek; Nayak, Prateep Kumar; Pradhan, Sisir; Abdelbaset, Maha; Aheto, Denis; Adade, Richard; Akintola, Shehu Latunji; Arizi, Evans Kwasi; Attipoe, Essinam; Blythe, Jessica; Bundy, Alida; Chuenpagdee, Ratana; Choudry, Anuradha; Das, Basanta Kumar; Devi, Chitra; Fakoya, Kafayat; Hara, Mafaniso; Islam, Gazi Md Nurul; Isaacs, Moenieba; Islam, Gazi Md Nurul; Islam, Mohammad Mahmudal; Kusumawardhani, Hapsari Ayu; Junrashote, Kungwan; Li, Yinji; Manase, Moffat; Mbaye, Ahmadou Aly; Kosamu, Ishmael; Mukherjee, Jenia; Namikawa, Tamano; Njaya, Friday; Odoi, Justice; Prado, Deborah; Rahman, Emon; Rouhani, Qurban; Alam, Md Razin Saleh; Sall, Aliou; Sambou, Clément; Sammogam, Revarunan; Sarr, Alassane; Sarr, Khady Yama; Satumanatpan, Suvaluck; Selim, Samiya Ahmed; Susilowati, Indah; Warren, Vannessa; Woiso, Julius Francis; Yahya, Batuli Mohammed
This perspective paper examines transition pathways that move small-scale fisheries from vulnerability towards viability. We understand ‘vulnerability to viability transition pathways’ as integrative and one that extends beyond economic concerns to include social, political, cultural and ecological aspects of small-scale fisheries. Our findings draw on a reflexive and qualitative assessment of country-specific case studies from across Africa and Asia to collaboratively identify transition pathways reflected in these contexts. Common pathways that emerged included: (1) building governance networks and partnerships; (2) centring small-scale fisheries tenure and rights; (3) advancing a gender and intersectional perspective on viability pathways; (4) enhancing opportunities for ecologically sensitive and diversified livelihoods; and (5) co-creating and co-producing the knowledge required to catalyse transition pathways. Outcomes of this analysis provide context-specific foundations upon which to further co-develop a research agenda on small-scale fisheries vulnerability to viability transitions. Insights from this analysis also contribute to the identification of the transdisciplinary capacities needed to build more viable and resilient small-scale fisheries in the context of ongoing debates about blue economy expansion, and in relation to country-level commitments to implement provisions of the FAO small-scale fisheries guidelines. In advancing a vulnerability to viability pathways lens, this paper frames small-scale fisheries transitions as governance-mediated, justice-oriented, relational and inherently non-linear processes.
Patterns of marine resource conflicts across Africa highlight need for fair access and benefit sharing for a blue economy
(Cell Press, 2026) Selig, Elizabeth R; Achi, Nahla Gedeon; Sundnes, Frode; Wabnitz, Colette C.C; Nakayama, Shinnosuke; Hjermann, Dag Ø; Palacios-Abrantes, Juliano; Spijkers, Jessica; Hara, Mafaniso; Isaacs,Moeniba; McClanahan, Timothy R; McKown, Ethan; Mensah, Adelina; Overå, Ragnhild; Rustad, Siri Aas; Thorarinsdottir, Thordis L; Tollefsen, Andreas Forø
An increased focus on the blue economy across coastal African countries requires effective strategies for reducing marine resource conflicts to achieve goals of sustainable, equitable ocean development. We created a spatial database documenting marine resource conflicts (2008–2018) and conducted an expert survey to analyze patterns in conflict types and how they relate to actors, drivers, and resolution. Our findings indicate that 73% of conflicts were associated with access disputes and 28% were between non-fisheries sectors. National governments, small-scale or industrial fishers, and state enforcement agents were the most frequent actors. Illegal fishing, inequitable benefit distribution, and inadequate regulations were commonly reported conflict drivers. Less than one third of conflicts were resolved, but increased governance was cited as important for resolution. These results suggest policymakers may need to focus on access and benefit sharing issues and increase engagement of key actors in governance processes to realize blue economy ambitions.
The ‘return’ of land grabbing?
(Routledge, 2025) Serrano, Angela; Hall, Ruth; Dell’Angelo, Jampel; Kay, Sylvia; Coronado, Sergio
This introductory paper to the Special Forum on ‘The Return of Land Grabbing’ examines the evolving dynamics of land grabbing. We argue that land grabbing never disappeared but has persisted and transformed, shaped by geopolitics, financialization, and climate policies. The forum advances debates by assessing knowledge and offering new insights into actors, mechanisms, and governance. Through diverse case studies and theoretical contributions, we present perspectives on the entangled dynamics of land grabbing, geopolitical shifts, financialization, green grabbing, and resistance. We invite reflections that respond to the changing nature of land grabbing—its drivers, forms, and sites of contestation.
Grassroots voices special forum: resisting land grabs and building alternatives
(Routledge, 2025) Monjane, Boaventura; Kay, Sylvia; Robbins, Martha Jane
Contemporary land grabbing extends far beyond agriculture to encompass forests, water sources, rivers, oceans, and entire territories. Communities and movements continue to resist via food sovereignty, agroecology, calls for reparations, political education, and building cross-sectoral, intersectional and multi-scalar movements against land grabs. The second International Conference for Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ICARRD+20) is a politically significant moment to achieve real progress towards the realization of the right to land and territories. This paper reflects on these issues through the contributions of movement leaders and allies to the Grassroots Voices special forum on land grabbing.
Land and water grabs, militarized development and agrarian resistance in the Sahel
(Routledge, 2025) Koné, Massa; Monjane, Boaventura
The Sahel region of West Africa is experiencing a profound political reconfiguration marked by the rise of military governments amidst deepening ecological, economic, and social crises. In this context, the structural dispossession of rural communities - particularly through land and water grabbing - continues to intensify, often justified under the guise of development, counterterrorism, and national security. These processes have placed immense pressure on peasant and agrarian communities, whose livelihoods are intrinsically tied to access to and control over natural resources. Yet, this moment of rupture also opens contradictory spaces: while military regimes often restrict civic and political freedoms, they can also unsettle entrenched power structures and open cracks that movements might tactically exploit.
Quickening the zombie state – governmentalities, statecraft and food governance in Cape Town
(Routledge, 2025) Kroll, Florian; Spires, Mark
In a recent surge of statecraft in the Cape Town city-region, officials negotiated a complex state terrain to realign institutions and policies governing food. This happened in a context where multiple governmental rationalities converged to create an ambiguous governance terrain that undermined the capacity for coordinated and decisive action. Our analysis of secondary literature, policy documents and interviews with officials reveals how they exploited shifts in this fraught topology of governmental reason. The notion of the ‘zombie state’ was articulated by officials to express an internal critique of the disabling design features of city-region government. Strategic discourse pursuing resilience established novel institutions and cultivated informal networks of influence. These transformations enabled creative thinking to inform innovative statecraft. This may galvanise the zombie state to govern food systems in the interests of the vulnerable. Our findings trouble totalising readings of Foucauldian power-knowledge which preclude agency and innovative political action to promote population wellbeing
A social network analysis of an epistemic community studying neoliberal conservation
(John Wiley and Sons Inc, 2025) Bunce, Brittany; Apostolopoulou, Elia; Andres, Sara Maestre
Researchers typically operate in epistemic communities: groups that share common approaches to research agendas and sociopolitical action and define areas of debate. Although productive in their own spheres, a lack of understanding among these communities can undermine scientific progress. Thus, analyzing epistemic communities is important for understanding the politics of knowledge production. Social network analysis sheds light on these dynamics by mapping the collaborative networks that shape academic output. We used 255 publications examined in Apostolopoulou et al.’s review of neoliberal conservation literature and 2135 additional publications in a social network analysis. We compiled a coauthorship network for 318 authors and found a dispersed and polycentric network with low connectivity and relatively small clusters of scholars collaborating within tightly knit groups. Although the structure is conducive to innovation and diversity, building new connections among dispersed coauthor groups could enrich knowledge sharing to drive novel approaches. We identified central actors in building collaborations among communities and communicating ideas across the network. We considered actor attributes, such as gender and geographic location, alongside centrality measures. We found that seventy percent of the 20 authors with the highest betweenness centrality were men, and only one male author was affiliated to an institution in the Global South. Our analysis of thematic clusters in the literature highlighted the spatial patchiness and partialness of the literature across different subfields. Scholars should undertake more work on identified themes in currently excluded geographic regions through effective interdisciplinary collaborations and with local communities of research and practice and grassroots movements. There is a need to strengthen the field's intellectual diversity and to have a deeper engagement with issues of class, gender, and race. This would allow neoliberal conservation to reimagine conservation in ways that are not only environmentally sustainable, but also socially just.
Emerging patterns of accumulation in land redistribution in South Africa
(John Wiley and Sons Inc, 2024) Mtero, Farai; Gumede, Nkanyiso; Ramantsima, Katlego
This article contributes to the wider debates on the impacts and outcomes of state efforts to create agrarian capitalists in land reform and agriculture in most countries of the global south. Specifically, this article presents empirical evidence on South Africa's state land lease and disposal policy (SLLDP) and analyses emerging accumulation dynamics in land redistribution. The evidence presented demonstrates that most of the SLLDP farm beneficiaries are capitalists from non-agrarian sectors who increasingly see land reform as the new frontier for accumulation with significant opportunities to access state land and production support. Other agrarian capitalists leverage political influence and accumulate through privileged access to public resources. In contrast, accumulation from below through the reinvestment of farming proceeds remains constrained. Promoting a small segment of already wealthy capitalists greatly limits the potential of land reform to transform social relations in property in favour of historically marginalised social classes.
Global land deals: What has been done, what has changed, and what’s next?
(The Land Deal Politics Initiative, 2024) Hall, Ruth; Wendy W, Wolford; Ben, White; Scoones, Ian
In 2010, the Land Deals Politics Initiative formed to study the rising number of large-scale land deals taking place around the world. As the so-called ‘global land grab’ took shape, we organised small grant competitions to generate more empirical research into the phenomenon, and we organised conferences to debate the parameters and dynamics from the local level to the global. In this article, we take stock of what has been written about land grabbing as well as the way in which the context has changed since 2010. We highlight the ongoing need for research, as well as the changing nature of financial capital, the institutional “reforms” that resulted from calls for change, new technologies that have emerged to measure and distribute land access, the role of climate change in underpinning powerful new green grabs, and the changing geopolitical context that challenges resistance even as people struggle to retain their access to land. Finally, in the lead up to the 2024 Conference on Global Land Grabbing in Bogotá, Colombia, we highlight several challenges for the next decade of research on global land grabbing.
Transforming critical agrarian studies: Solidarity, scholar-activism and emancipatory agendas in and from the Global South
(Taylor and Francis Group, 2023) Aguiar, Diana; Ahmed, Yasmin; Avcı, Duygu
This paper examines the challenges and opportunities faced bycritical agrarian scholars in and from the Global South. We arguethat despite the historical and structural limitations, the criticaljuncture of convergence of crises and renewed interest inagrarian political economies offers an opportunity for fostering adiverse research agenda that opens space for critical perspectivesabout, from and by the Global South, which is mostly absent inmainstream scholarship dominated by the Global North. We alsopropose doing so by enhancing solidarity to transform injusticeswithin academia and other spaces of knowledge production anddissemination
Elite capture in South Africa’s land redistribution: The convergence of policy bias, corrupt practices and class dynamics
(Taylor and Francis Group, 2023) Mtero, Farai; Gumede, Nkanyiso; Ramantsima, Katlego
Land reforms are an important mechanism for addressing inequalities in society. Whileaddressing South Africa’s racialised land inequalities remains crucial, new forms of classinequality are produced through land reform, with the well-off becoming predominant asbeneficiaries. This article focuses on elite capture in land redistribution and analysesland-reform outcomes in South Africa’s state land lease and disposal policy (SLLDP). Thearticle presents empirical evidence from 62 land-reform farms in five provinces of SouthAfrica and shows how policy biases in favour of well-off beneficiaries converge withcorruption and rent-seeking practices to produce uneven agrarian outcomes. Beneficiaryselection and targeting inherently favour well-off beneficiaries, who are consideredcompetent to engage in large-scale commercial farming. Land reform is a new frontier ofaccumulation for different agribusinesses, urban-based businesspeople and state officials,who increasingly benefit from cheap state land and various forms of production supportmeant to recapitalise land-reform farms.
Intertwined histories: JPS at 50, La Via Campesina at 30
(Taylor and Francis Group, 2023) Hall, Ruth; Grajales, Jacobo; Jacobs, Ricardo
The Journal of Peasant Studies was founded 50 years ago, in 1973, amidst an oil price crisis, the end of the gold standard and the beginning of the debt crisis, an agrarian famine in Bangladesh, and what some consider the last of the ‘peasant wars’. Twenty years later, when the peasant movement La Via Campesina (LVC) was born in 1993, the world was in another cataclysmic moment: the end of the Cold War consolidated the neoliberal orthodoxy that had already wrought violence in the form of structural adjustment policies that dismantled public institutions, deregulated trade, and provoked resistance – including transnational alliances across rural social movements. Today LVC brings together 182 organisations of peasants, small farmers and fishers, and rural workers from 81 countries under the banner of food sovereignty.
Should subsistence agriculture be supported as a strategy to address rural food insecurity?
(Taylor and Francis Group, 2009) Aliber, M; Hart, T. G. B.
At first glance South Africa’s black farming sector appears to contribute rather minimally to overall agricultural output in South Africa. However, despite the complexity involved in this sector and the often marginal conditions in which agriculture is practised it appears to be important to a large number of black households. Furthermore, the significance they attach to subsistence agriculture as means of supplementing household food supplies seems to heavily outweigh other reasons for engaging in agriculture. Some South African researchers have indicated the contribution subsistence production makes to household food security, despite the prevalent complexities and the low input nature of this production. Statistics South Africa’s Labour Force Survey data from 2001 to 2007 and a case study of subsistence farming in Limpopo Province are used to support the argument that, despite the complexity of this sector, the more than 4 million subsistence farmers, need and merit greater support.
Lockdown, resilience and emergency statecraft in the Cape Town food system
(Cities, 2022) Kroll, Florian; Adelle, Camilla
Well before the Covid-19 pandemic, rapidly growing cities of the global South were at the epicenter of multiple converging crises affecting food systems. Globally, government lockdown responses to the disease triggered shocks which cascaded unevenly through urban food systems, exacerbating food insecurity. Cities worldwide developed strategies to mitigate shocks, but research on statecraft enabling food systems resilience is sparse. Addressing this gap, we analyse the case of the African metropolis of Cape Town, where lockdown disrupted livelihoods, mobility and food provision, deepening food insecurity. Employing a vital systems security lens, we show how civil society and state networks mobilised to mitigate and adapt to lockdown impacts. Building on preceding institutional transformations, civil society and state collaborated to deliver emergency food aid, while advocacy networks raised food on the political agenda, formulated proposals, and navigated these through a widened policy window. Emergency statecraft assembled networks and regulatory instruments to secure food systems, enhance preparedness for future disruptions and present opportunities for transition towards more sustainable food systems. However, current food systems configuration enabled powerful actors to resist deeper transformation while devolving impacts to community networks. Despite resilient vested interests and power disparities, advocacy coalitions can anticipate and leverage crises to incrementally advance transformational, pro-poor statecraft.
Life on the land: New lives for agrarian questions
(Taylor and Francis Group, 2023) Shattuck, Annie; Grajales, Jacobo; Hall, Ruth
The politics of food, climate, energy, and the yet unfinished work ofending colonialism run square through questions of land. Theclassical agrarian question has taken on new forms, and a newintensity. We look at four dimensions of the agrarian questiontoday: urbanization and labor; care and social reproduction;financialization and global food systems; and social movements.On this 50th anniversary of JPS, we as the journal’s editors invitemore research, vigorous debate, and scholar-activism on theseissues in agrarian politics and beyond. We move into the journal’snext era hoping we might continue to better interpret the worldin order to change it..
Intra-party cohesion in Zimbabwe’s ruling party after robert mugabe
(Journal of Asian and African Studies, 2023) Zamchiya, Phillan
Some mainstream political scientists apply the trilogy of exit, voice and loyalty in studying intra-party cohesion. This approach applies more neatly in liberal than in repressive contexts. I therefore make three modifications to enhance the trilogy’s descriptive and explanatory power in an authoritarian context using the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU PF) after Robert Mugabe. First, there is need to integrate non-voluntary exit as party members are mostly expelled against their will in a context where there are limited livelihood opportunities outside party-state patronage and defection is ruthlessly punished. Second, voice should be understood as predominantly expressed over preferences for personalities in internal power distribution rather than over policies. Third, loyalty is not always to the party institution to promote unity but to individuals or factions. From this positioning, ZANU PF is predominantly a non-cohesive party characterised by ephemerally organised leader-follower groups largely seeking power and patronage.
Smallholder views on Chinese agricultural investments in Mozambique and Tanzania in the context of VGGTS
(MDPI, 2023) Pointer, Rebecca; Sulle, Emmanuel; Ntauazi, Clemente
Based on a case study in each country, this study documents the views of Mozambican and Tanzanian smallholders regarding Chinese agricultural investments and the extent to which investors abide by their legitimate land tenure rights as defined by the Voluntary Guidelines for the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Forests and Fisheries in the Context of National Food Security (VGGTs). The VGGTs offer guidelines to government on how to protect the land tenure of rural communities when land is being acquired for large-scale land investments. The study also assessed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on smallholders. Due to COVID-19, instead of fieldwork, we conducted telephone interviews with 20 smallholders in Mozambique and 35 in Tanzania. The Mozambican case showed that even when land set aside for investors was not in dispute, smallholders still had unmet expectations, especially regarding investors’ corporate social responsibility activities. In the Tanzanian case, even though the land leased by the Chinese investor had been designated as general land, it had laid fallow for a long period, and smallholders had moved back onto the land, only to be displaced in 2017.

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