Institute of Development Studies

Peasant Politics: Critical Perspectives on Rural Development

28 May 2009

'Peasant question'; central to study of rural development

As agrarian systems the world over undergo massive change, the role of the smallholder within wider economic and political relations remains a key focus for academic study and policy debate.

Since the days of Lenin and Chayanov, ‘the peasant question’ has been central to the study of rural development. But today, there is not just one question, but many. The analytical and theoretical perspectives required to make sense of dramatic changes in rural settings due to globalisation, financial crises, land grabs and radical economic change have also shifted. No longer is there a standard Marxist critique, but a range of other perspectives, drawing on a more plural set of insights, knowledges and conceptual frames.

But the basic questions at the heart of this long tradition in studies of rural development remain important. For any setting, we must ask who owns what, who gets what and what do they do with it?  Social relations – notably class and gender - and politics – both of the state and wider social movements - inevitably govern the distribution of assets, patterns of work and divisions of labour, the distribution of income and the dynamics of consumption and accumulation in rural societies.

Leading Journal on Peasant Studies Re-launched

The Journal of Peasant Studies was established in 1973 to explore these questions, and for over nearly four decades has provided a focus for debate. Over this period, it has become one of the leading journals in the field of rural development, aiming to provoke and promote multidisciplinary, critical thinking about social structures, institutions, actors and processes of change in and in relation to the rural world.

This year the Journal has been re-launched. A new editor and editorial team have been appointed and the journal’s orientation and editorial policy have been revised.

The new editor, Jun Borras – Professor at St Mary’s University, Canada, is actively involved in rural social movements internationally and has contributed substantially to scholarship on land reform and agrarian change, particularly in the context of the Philippines. He is supported by an Editorial Collective, which includes IDS Fellow, Ian Scoones.

Highlighting contemporary controversies and policy issues in rural development

The opening editorial of the new issue states that the journal will: ‘…encourage further inquiry into how agrarian power relations between classes and other social groups are created, understood, contested and transformed. The journal will pay special attention to questions of agency of marginalised groups in agrarian societies, particularly their autonomy and capacity to interpret – and change – their conditions. It will promote contributions that question mainstream prescriptions or interrogate orthodoxies in radical thinking. We encourage contributions about a wide range of contemporary and historical questions and perspectives related to rural politics and development.’

The latest issue is now available free to download and includes an array of articles defining a new focus for the study of rural politics and development. The opening article by Jun Borras sets the scene, locating contemporary debates about peasant societies in context. An article by Ian Scoones reviews rural livelihoods perspectives, and particularly the past decade’s experience of using ‘sustainable livelihoods’ approaches. Shahra Razavi explores the gendered dimensions of agrarian change, while Marc Edelman looks at the interactions between social movements and professional researchers. A series of articles also reflect on the longer-term history of ‘peasant studies’, including Teodor Shanin on Chayanov, Henry Bernstein on Lenin and Chayanov and Terence Byres on the comparative historical experiences of agrarian transition in Britain, France and Prussia.

In a forthcoming issue, a new ‘Grassroots Voices’ section presents a collection of reflections on 'Everyday Forms of Political Expression' from a range of social movement activists, while a future book reviews section will contain a review essay on critical responses to the World Bank’s World Development Report on agriculture by IDS Fellow Stephen Devereux and colleagues.
 
The revamped journal aims to become the focus for debate and discussion about rural politics and development, and seeks to generate informed debate, comment and analysis – particularly encouraging contributions from younger scholars from the global south.

The Journal aims to highlight contemporary controversies and policy issues, and explore them through a lens focused on agrarian politics and change. For example, a forthcoming conference, convened by the Journal, focuses on biofuels, land and agrarian change (pdf) and will examine how the transfer of land to use by biofuels has affected livelihoods, tenure security and agrarian relations, and the political economy of policies underlying such rural transformation. Future journal issues will include special sections of food sovereignty, agro-ecology movements and human rights and agrarian struggles.