The agrarian question of extractive capital : political economy, rural change, and peasant struggle in 21st century Paraguay

Show simple item record

dc.contributor.advisor Veltmeyer, Henry
dc.contributor.advisor Tetreault, Darcy Victor
dc.creator Ezquerro-Cañete, Arturo
dc.date.accessioned 2020-12-01T18:11:26Z
dc.date.available 2020-12-01T18:11:26Z
dc.date.issued 2020
dc.identifier.other HD1897 E97 2020
dc.identifier.uri http://library2.smu.ca/xmlui/handle/01/29476
dc.description 286 leaves : illustrations (chiefly colour) ; 29 cm
dc.description Includes abstract.
dc.description Includes bibliographical references (leaves 242-286).
dc.description.abstract This dissertation examines the impact of contemporary capitalist globalization on class relations, class conflict, and economic development in the Paraguayan countryside. It offers a political economy analysis of agrarian change, situating this analysis in the wider historical context of the protracted transition to democracy between 1989 and 2008, the rural class structure of the country, the changing character of contemporary agro-extractive capitalism, and the long‐standing class struggle for redistributive land reform. Particular focus is placed on the combative but still highly fragmented peasantry and on the “parliamentary coup” that took place in June 2012, as this event reveals the major fault lines of the balance of class forces in the countryside, in particular the commitment of a compact and coalesced, dominant agrarian class and political elite in Congress to preserving the country’s unequal distribution of land and wealth. By examining the Paraguayan land reform impasse under the short‐lived government of Fernando Lugo (2008–2012) through an interactive state-society framework, this dissertation attempts to locate the sources of current social and political conflict in the country, and the demands of rival social groups. In doing so, it argues that the rise and fall of Lugo occurred in the context of structural legacies from the Stroessner era (1954–1989) that have remained largely unchanged and that coexist today with an expanding agro‐ extractivist development model. <br> This dissertation also challenges the recent hailing of agricultural biotechnology as a panacea for food insecurity and rural poverty in countries of the global South. Based on an empirical investigation of the neoliberal soy regime in Paraguay, the present study documents how the profound transformation of this country’s agricultural mode of production over the past two decades, spurred by the neoliberal restructuring of agriculture and the bio-revolution, has jeopardized rural livelihoods. Drawing on the concept of “agrarian extractivism”, the study demonstrates how the transgenic soyization of Paraguay’s agriculture has led to an increased concentration of landholdings, as well as the displacement and disempowerment of peasants and rural labourers who have been rendered surplus to the requirements of agribusiness capital. At the same time, the consolidation of this new agro-industrial model has fostered a growing dependence on agrochemicals that compromise environmental quality and human health. Agrarian extractivism has also reshaped the political terrain of the countryside; the class struggle for land and agrarian reform has now expanded to include struggles against the deleterious operations of extractive capital. en_CA
dc.description.provenance Submitted by Greg Hilliard (greg.hilliard@smu.ca) on 2020-12-01T18:11:26Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Ezquerro-Cañete_Arturo_PHD_2020.pdf: 3070002 bytes, checksum: a4764238e2052e05ed0ff3a023161ef2 (MD5) en
dc.description.provenance Made available in DSpace on 2020-12-01T18:11:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Ezquerro-Cañete_Arturo_PHD_2020.pdf: 3070002 bytes, checksum: a4764238e2052e05ed0ff3a023161ef2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2020-08-26 en
dc.language.iso en en_CA
dc.publisher Halifax, N.S. : Saint Mary's University
dc.subject.lcc HD1897
dc.subject.lcsh Agriculture -- Economic aspects -- Paraguay
dc.subject.lcsh Agriculture -- Social aspects -- Paraguay
dc.subject.lcsh Economic development -- Political aspects -- Paraguay
dc.subject.lcsh Soybean industry -- Paraguay
dc.subject.lcsh Paraguay -- Rural conditions
dc.title The agrarian question of extractive capital : political economy, rural change, and peasant struggle in 21st century Paraguay en_CA
dc.type Text en_CA
thesis.degree.name Doctor of Philosophy in International Development Studies
thesis.degree.level Doctoral
thesis.degree.discipline International Development Studies Program
thesis.degree.grantor Saint Mary's University (Halifax, N.S.)
 Find Full text

Files in this item

 
 

This item appears in the following Collection(s)

Show simple item record

Search DSpace


Browse

My Account