Transnational Agrarian Movements: Origins and Politics, Campaigns and Impact |
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Authors: | SATURNINO M BORRAS JR MARC EDELMAN CRISTÓBAL KAY |
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Institution: | International Development Studies, Saint Mary's University, 923 Robie St, Halifax, NS, Canada B3H 3C3; Department of Anthropology, Hunter College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, NY 10065-5024, USA; Professor of Development Studies and Rural Development at the Institute of Social Studies (ISS), P.O. Box 29776, 2502 LT The Hague, The Netherlands |
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Abstract: | This essay introduces a special issue of the Journal of Agrarian Change on transnational agrarian movements (TAMs). The contributors' methods and subjects vary widely in geographical, temporal and political scope. The contributors to this collection share an understanding of TAMs' complexity that grows out of an appreciation of the complicated historical origins and the delicate political balancing acts that necessarily characterize any effort to construct cross-border alliances linking highly heterogeneous organizations, social classes, ethnicities, political viewpoints and regions. This introductory essay outlines the TAMs' deep historical roots and also explains why and how the authors in this collection see this complexity as an essential element in understanding TAMs. This complexity can be understood by looking at seven common themes: (i) representation and agendas, (ii) political strategies and forms of actions, (iii) impact, (iv) TAMs as arenas of action between different (sub)national movements, (v) class origins, (vi) ideological and political differences and (vii) the dynamics of alliance-building. By acknowledging TAMs' contradictions, ambiguities and internal tensions, the authors also seek, from the standpoint of engaged intellectuals, to advance a transformative political project by better comprehending its origins, past successes and failures, and current and future challenges. |
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Keywords: | transnational agrarian movements peasant movements global civil society rural politics class alliances global governance La Vía Campesina |
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