Capitalist development and agrarian change on the Latin American periphery

Abstract

We are witnessing today a new phase in the national and global development of the productive forces where intellectual property and ownership of patents has become a key component of the imperialist system of domination under the aegis of neoliberal capitalism. This article explores the implications of this development for the agricultural sector and seeks to unravel fundamental features of the restructuring and capitalist development process involved, with particular reference to the new geoeconomics of capital (the evolution of extractive capitalism) in Latin America.