The quest to bring land under social and political control: land reform struggles of the past and present in Ecuador

Goodwin, Geoff ORCID: 0000-0002-5877-4717 (2017) The quest to bring land under social and political control: land reform struggles of the past and present in Ecuador. Journal of Agrarian Change, 17 (3). pp. 571-593. ISSN 1471-0358

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Abstract

Land reform was one of the most important policies introduced in Latin America in the twentieth century and remains high on the political agenda due to sustained pressure from rural social movements. Improving our understanding of the issue therefore remains a pressing concern. This paper responds to this need by proposing a new theoretical framework to explore land reform and providing a fresh analysis of historical and contemporary land struggles in Ecuador. Drawing on the pioneering work of Karl Polanyi, the paper characterizes these struggles as the attempt to increase the social and political control of land in the face of mounting commodification. The movement started in the 1960s and remains evident in Ecuador today. Exploring land reform in Ecuador from this theoretical perspective provides new insight into land struggles in the country and contributes to debates over land reforms of the past and present elsewhere in the Global South.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(IS...
Additional Information:	© 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Divisions:	International Development
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD100 Land Use J Political Science > JA Political science (General)
Date Deposited:	09 May 2016 08:28
Last Modified:	12 Dec 2024 01:21
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/66383

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