What is the Sustainable Rural Livelihoods Approach (SRLA) and what is it good for - and what not? In this episode we are joined by Ian Scoones in conversation about this approach which he has been centrally involved in elaborating. Unlike political economy, the SRLA is not, and cannot provide, a theoretical framework, in that it does not contain any overarching analysis of social processes. Ian describes the approach as having quite modest claims - as a generic set of empirical questions about complex rural worlds, centered on the question: what do people do all day to survive? Since the 1990s, the 'development industry' and donor agencies have widely and uncritically adopted 'sustainable livelihoods' in a depoliticised way. Ian responds to this, and the criticism that the approach focuses on the micro level and is highly descriptive - and anathema to political economy. Insofar as questions about livelihoods address questions about ownership of resources, labour, distribution of benefits and accumulation, he argues that it can be compatible and usefully integrated with class analysis.

Sustainable rural livelihoods - an approach, not a theory

In one of the biggest rural transformations in world history, China’s land reforms through the twentieth century involved first the redistribution of farmland, then farming cooperatives, and collectivisation of land under the commune system. In this episode, we speak with Prof. Yan Hairong, a scholar on China’s rural transformations. She explains how, in the decades after the revolution, initial freedoms to sell produce and land, hire labour and charge interest on credit were revoked. And from the late 1970s, a rural reform programme dismantled the communes, decollectivised farming and vested use rights to land in households. Now, as a major industrial power, China’s land continues to be owned at village level, and cannot be sold, but families can rent out their use rights - which has seen the emergence of agribusinesses in rural areas. In the largest labour migration in the world, over 200 million people from the countryside work in cities, but retain rights to their rural land.

Land, labour migration and pathways of change in rural China

What is the relationship between climate change and agrarian struggles? As world leaders, and fossil fuel lobbyists, convene for climate negotiations at COP28 (the Conference of the Parties) in Dubai, we talk with Kirtana Chandrasekaran from Friends of the Earth International (India/Scotland) and Emilinah Namaganda of Utrecht University (Uganda/Netherlands) about their work on the political economy of global climate responses. They argue that the climate negotiations further imperil agrarian demands for land redistribution, agrarian reform and food sovereignty, due to the promotion of 'false solutions' which have gained traction in mainstream discourse. Industrial capitalism underpins the climate crisis, yet the global response to it is to double down on commodification of nature - through carbon markets, renewable fuels and transition minerals - which combine to increase pressure on rural populations and their land rights. These climate policies converge with direct climatic shocks, effectively transferring the costs of mitigation to people and regions already marginalised, especially in the global South. Activists play a pivotal role in contesting and exposing these pathways, including the controversial concept of nature-based solutions. In Southern Africa, academic research shows the displacement of people and socio-economic impacts of the mining of so-called green or 'transition' minerals  represents a deepening of extractivism and a new wave of land grabbing.

Climate politics, carbon offsets and green minerals

In this episode  we continue our discussion with Yan Hariong, exploring China's 'Going Out policy.' Our guest delves into the intricate linkages between China and other developing countries, highlighting concerns regarding the rebalancing of global geopolitical power. With China's surplus capacity and its reliance on export markets for development, we witness a new geopolitical moment amidst the expansion of the BRICS alliance. The context of China's global engagement intersects with neoliberalism, a framework historically imposed by Western institutions. However, the emergence of China as a major player challenges conventional expectations. Examining China's involvement in Africa, we consider whether its actions amount to neocolonialism or simply reflect participation in global capitalism, offering investment opportunities that may be more appealing to African nations.

China’s ‘Going Out’ Policy And Global Agrarian Change

The Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) is an independent Policy Research Institute within the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences at the University of the Western Cape.

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