Reclaiming the land: the resurgence of rural movements in Africa, Asia and Latin America
- Authors: Helliker, Kirk D
- Date: 2005
- Language: English
- Type: review essay , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/61017 , vital:27913 , http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/asr.v9i2.23268
- Description: In the early 1990s, Rehman Sobhan (1993) argued that after two decades in which agrarian reform was a global non-event, ‘[vjotaries of agrarian reform’ had been reduced to ‘a fringe group of romantic throwbacks left over from the 1950s and 1960s’ (1993: p.3) He offered a broad overview of post-Second World War experiences in Asia, Latin America and Africa, and distinguished between radical and non-egalitarian reforms in terms of their effect on eliminating class differentiation and modes of domination in the countryside. He concluded by arguing that ‘ [t]he political mobilization needed to realize radical reforms in the contemporary developing world remains elusive’’ (1993: p.133, my emphasis). Nearly ten years later, Deborah Bryceson (2000), after discussing the post-Second World War academic literature on the peasantry, suggested that '[pleasant theory is on the retreat’ (2000: p.29); that it was critical to bring peasants ‘back into theoretical and policy debates’ (2000: p.30); and that the ongoing reproduction of the peasantry in Latin America, Asia and Africa through contradictory processes of formation and dissolution seemed to give them an ‘enduringpresence’ (2000: p.6). She concluded also by referring to an elusiveness, speaking about the multifaceted survival strategies of the peasantry under conditions of global neo-liberalism that make the peasantry - conceptually - ‘more elusive than before’ (2000: p.30, my emphasis). These brief comments on the status of the peasantry and agrarian reform provide an important historical and theoretical backdrop to the volume under review.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Helliker, Kirk D
- Date: 2005
- Language: English
- Type: review essay , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/61017 , vital:27913 , http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/asr.v9i2.23268
- Description: In the early 1990s, Rehman Sobhan (1993) argued that after two decades in which agrarian reform was a global non-event, ‘[vjotaries of agrarian reform’ had been reduced to ‘a fringe group of romantic throwbacks left over from the 1950s and 1960s’ (1993: p.3) He offered a broad overview of post-Second World War experiences in Asia, Latin America and Africa, and distinguished between radical and non-egalitarian reforms in terms of their effect on eliminating class differentiation and modes of domination in the countryside. He concluded by arguing that ‘ [t]he political mobilization needed to realize radical reforms in the contemporary developing world remains elusive’’ (1993: p.133, my emphasis). Nearly ten years later, Deborah Bryceson (2000), after discussing the post-Second World War academic literature on the peasantry, suggested that '[pleasant theory is on the retreat’ (2000: p.29); that it was critical to bring peasants ‘back into theoretical and policy debates’ (2000: p.30); and that the ongoing reproduction of the peasantry in Latin America, Asia and Africa through contradictory processes of formation and dissolution seemed to give them an ‘enduringpresence’ (2000: p.6). She concluded also by referring to an elusiveness, speaking about the multifaceted survival strategies of the peasantry under conditions of global neo-liberalism that make the peasantry - conceptually - ‘more elusive than before’ (2000: p.30, my emphasis). These brief comments on the status of the peasantry and agrarian reform provide an important historical and theoretical backdrop to the volume under review.
- Full Text:
Resilient or resigned? Criminal victimisation and quality of life in South Africa
- Authors: Moller, Valerie
- Date: 2005
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:7113 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1010746
- Description: A victimisation study conducted among 3300 householders in South Africa’s Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality (NMMM) in the Eastern Cape Province aimed to inform a crime prevention strategy for the metropolitan area. The study found that the variables ‘fear of crime’ – measured in terms of perceived likelihood of victimisation – and concern about ‘personal safety’ had greater negative influence on life satisfaction than actual victimisation. Individual crimes against the person had greater negative influence on subjective wellbeing and feelings of personal safety than property and other household crimes. Individuals who perceived themselves to be at risk of becoming a victim of crime also perceived greater risk of other misfortunes. However, materially better-off victims reported higher levels of life satisfaction than non-victims in spite of their crime experience. South Africa has high crime rates by international standards and fighting crime presents the country with one of its major challenges in the second decade of democracy. Nevertheless, findings suggest that the negative impact of crime issues on achieving the good life are overshadowed by issues of racial inequalities and poverty. The conclusion is drawn that residents of Nelson Mandela Metropole are hardy when it comes to living with crime but nonetheless suffer stress in doing so. From a methodological perspective, the discussion considers whether subjective crime issues such as fear of crime and personal safety should be regarded as personal or neighbourhood quality-of-life issues. Based on survey findings, the conclusion is drawn that concern for personal safety is both. However, a crime-as neighbourhood-issue is more likely to attract remedial action on the part of local authorities to better protect citizens and allay their fears of crime.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Moller, Valerie
- Date: 2005
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:7113 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1010746
- Description: A victimisation study conducted among 3300 householders in South Africa’s Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality (NMMM) in the Eastern Cape Province aimed to inform a crime prevention strategy for the metropolitan area. The study found that the variables ‘fear of crime’ – measured in terms of perceived likelihood of victimisation – and concern about ‘personal safety’ had greater negative influence on life satisfaction than actual victimisation. Individual crimes against the person had greater negative influence on subjective wellbeing and feelings of personal safety than property and other household crimes. Individuals who perceived themselves to be at risk of becoming a victim of crime also perceived greater risk of other misfortunes. However, materially better-off victims reported higher levels of life satisfaction than non-victims in spite of their crime experience. South Africa has high crime rates by international standards and fighting crime presents the country with one of its major challenges in the second decade of democracy. Nevertheless, findings suggest that the negative impact of crime issues on achieving the good life are overshadowed by issues of racial inequalities and poverty. The conclusion is drawn that residents of Nelson Mandela Metropole are hardy when it comes to living with crime but nonetheless suffer stress in doing so. From a methodological perspective, the discussion considers whether subjective crime issues such as fear of crime and personal safety should be regarded as personal or neighbourhood quality-of-life issues. Based on survey findings, the conclusion is drawn that concern for personal safety is both. However, a crime-as neighbourhood-issue is more likely to attract remedial action on the part of local authorities to better protect citizens and allay their fears of crime.
- Full Text:
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