The drama of the grabbed commons: anti-politics machine and local responses

This article explores the nexus between old and new commons, anti-politics, and Corporate Social Responsibility measures in the context of on-going land grabbing. Detailed case studies in Ghana, Malawi, Morocco, and Tanzania show that powerful discourses of development, women's empowerment, and...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Journal of peasant studies Vol. 48; no. 6; pp. 1304 - 1327
Main Authors Gerber, Jean-David, Haller, Tobias
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London Routledge 19.09.2021
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
anti-politics machine
Case studies
Common lands
commons grabbing
Companies
Corporate social responsibility (CSR)
Discourses
Drama
Empowerment
large-scale land acquisition
Lineage
Local politics
Machinery
Metaphor
new commons
Politics
Power structure
Productivity
Social responsibility
Tragedy
Winners
Women
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Summary:This article explores the nexus between old and new commons, anti-politics, and Corporate Social Responsibility measures in the context of on-going land grabbing. Detailed case studies in Ghana, Malawi, Morocco, and Tanzania show that powerful discourses of development, women's empowerment, and wasteland productivity increase serve as anti-politics machines that hide the fact that winners are few and losers many. Despite differential bargaining power mediated by class, age, lineage, or gender, some actors manage to take advantage of the situation: contrary to the often used tragedy metaphor, we argue that we are faced with an open-ended 'drama of the commons' which is still unfolding.
ISSN:0306-6150
1743-9361
DOI:10.1080/03066150.2020.1758673