Contested Market-Driven Land Reform in Malawi

Abstract

Decentralisation, Democratisation and Recentralisation This book empirically discusses recent struggles over land and mining, exploring state-society relations conflicts on various scales. In contrast with the existing literature, analyses in this volume deliberately focus on large-scale land use changes both in relation to the expansion of industrial mining and to agro-industry. The authors contend that there are significant parallels between contestations over different variants of resource extractivism, as they reflect the same global trends and processes. Chapters draw on critical theoretical approaches from political ecology, political economy, spatial theory, contentious politics, and the study of democracy. The authors not only provide empirical insights on actual resource struggles from different world regions based on in-depth field research, but also contribute to theory-building by linking concepts from various critical approaches to one another, developing a perspective for analysing struggles over resources related to current global crisis phenomena. Preface and Acknowledgements; Contents; Notes on the Contributors; List of Figures; List of Tables; Contested Extractivism, Society and the State: An Introduction; Contentious Politics, Spatial Dimensions and the Political Ecology of Extractivism; The Relationship Between Society and State, State Spaces and Democracy; About the Book; References; Reimagining Extractivism: Insights from Spatial Theory; Introduction; What Is Extractivism?; Theorising the Spatiality of Extractivism; Pathways Towards Re-spatialising Extractivism; The Production of Extractive Spaces; Heterotopic Extractivism Local States/Spaces of Exception Conclusions; References; Beyond Curse and Blessing: Rentier Society in Venezuela; Introduction; Natural Resources, Rents and Development: An Overview of Scholarly Debates; Shortcomings of the Current Rentier and Resource Curse Debate; Beyond Curse and Blessing: Analytical Starting Points for a Deeper Understanding of Rentier Societies; A Crucial Case Study: Venezuela's Rentier Society; The Distribution of Rent Income in Venezuela; Reclaiming the Rent: Oil and Venezuelan Society; Conclusions; References Ghana - Big Man, Big Envelope, Finish: Chinese Corporate Exploitation in Small-Scale MiningIntroduction; Context: Gold Mining in Ghana; Shaanxi Mining (Ghana) Limited and Resource Conflict; 'Police Arrests (sic.) Assembly Member and 11 Others for Rioting' ; Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining in Upper East and the Arrival of SMGHL; Resistance and Conflict; State Response; Outcomes of Resource Conflict; Corporate Theft?; State Collusion; Opposition Failure; Local Community Fractured; Explaining Outcomes: Corruption, Informality and Neoliberalisation; Corruption; Informality Neoliberal Resource GovernanceState Reconstruction; Marketisation of Social Relations; Conclusion; References; Small-Scale Gold Mining and the State in the Philippines; Introduction; The Informal (Mining) Economy: A Sign of State Weakness?; Joint Extraction Regimes in Compostela Valley's Underground Economy; Stability and Friction on the Upland Frontier; The Advancing Small-Scale Mining Frontier; The Emergence of a Barangay-Centred Regulatory Order; From Brokerage to Informal Formalisation ; Coercion, Legitimacy, and Reciprocity in Joint Extraction Regimes Mineral Resource Governance and Conflicting Processes of State FormationJoint Extraction Regimes as a Product of Decentralised State-Building; The Expansion of Large-Scale Mining and the Destabilisation of the Mineral Frontier; Diwalwal, Monkayo Municipality ; Pantukan; Conclusion; References; Politics of Scale and Struggles over Mining in Colombia; Introduction; Mining and the Politics of Scale; Participatory Citizenship and Spaces for Participation; Mining and Scalar (Re)configurations in Colombia; Mining Regulations and State Rescaling