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AbstractThis article identifies the two currents that have divided the Left over the Zimbabwe question. It argues that in the course of the radicalisation of the Zimbabwean state, 'Two Lefts' emerged, the so-called 'internationalist' and the 'nationalist', to take up opposite positions over a series of political questions, most notably the agrarian question and the national question. The article defends the nationalist Left and offers a critique of the 'internationalist' Left through a discussion of contemporary imperialism, the neocolonial state, and civil society.

This book focuses on the work of one of the leading African scholars on the land question and agrarian transformation in Africa--Sam Moyo. It offers a critical discussion, in conversation with Sam Moyo, of the land question and the response of African states. Since independence, African states have been trying to address the colonial legacy on land policy and governance. After six decades of formulating and implementing land reforms, most countries have not succeeded in decolonising approaches to land policy and the administrative framework. The book brings together the broader debates on the implications of decolonisation of Africa's land policy. Through case studies from several African countries, the book offers an empirical analysis on land reforms and the emerging land relations, and how these affect land allocation and use, including agricultural production. Most of the chapters discuss how the unresolved land question in post-colonial Africa impacts on agricultural production and rural development broadly. The failure to decolonise colonial land policy and the imported tenure systems has left post-colonial African states dancing to two tunes, resulting in schizophrenic land and agrarian policies. The book demonstrates that the failure by African states to reconcile imported and Indigenous land tenure systems and practices is evident in the deliberate denigration of customary tenure. It is also evident in the rising land inequality and the neglect of the agricultural sector, the small-scale and subsistence sub-sectors in particular.

This book provides a comprehensive description of the countries of the SADC region, an area of rapid political, economic and social change. Each of the ten country profiles provides detailed information on the physical and human geography, environmental problems, resource base, institutional structures for environmental management and the issues associated with institutional change. Each profile was drafted by local environmental experts and is based on extensive fieldwork and research originally commissioned by the Dutch government. (DÜI-Hff)

In four preliminary sections the report first traces the role and contributions of agriculture in the economy and in employment, and then it assesses the performances of the agricultural sub-sector, focusing on large-sclae commercial farming and Communal Area farming in order to highlight the differences in employment and growth impacts of these two dominant sub-sectors. In the two following sections the resources and policy framework of sub-sectoral performance are discussed and identifiable investment policy impacts synthesized, with particular attention given to the employment effects of the post-independence agricultural developments. (DÜI-Hff)

This article is a response to Fred Hendricks' critique of our most recent statement on the classical and contemporary agrarian questions. The critique, we believe, is a gross misunderstanding of our position on a variety of issues, including populism, nationalism, the character of the peasantry and industrialization. In defence of our intellectual integrity and autonomy, we restate here our basic positions and outline the trajectory of our collective research projects, in the hope that our positions are put into better perspective.

This article traces a particular view of the classical agrarian question in Marxian political economy which has sustained the myth of industrialization as the basic objective of transformation. The idea was born in the late nineteenth century among the European vanguard, then consolidated as an axiom during the Cold War, only to be resurrected in the neoliberal period by a professionalized discipline of 'agrarian studies'. This article argues that such a view fails to acknowledge the historic importance of the national question and its land and peasant components, which are irreducible to industrialization. The article restores national sovereignty to its proper place in the classical agrarian question and argues that it remains the cornerstone of all other dimensions of the agrarian question, including gender equity and ecological sustainability.

This article recuperates the links between imperialism and primitive accumulation, arguing that the two are inherently connected. It undertakes a review of the literature to show that the links are deeper than is often recognized, as in the work of David Harvey. It also maps the stages of imperialism, their logics and characteristics, from the initial expansion of merchant capitalism, through monopoly capitalism and its financialization, which is now leading a 'new scramble'. The article shows how the various scrambles for Africa have evolved, including past and present land grabs, as well as the nature of resistance.