The Land Reform Deception
Political Opportunism in Zimbabwe's Land Seizure Era
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19978782 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Charles Laurie, Alexander Charles Laurie, Stephen Ching-Kiu Chan (0000-0002-8861-3922), Stephen Chan (0000-0002-2312-2137) |
| Year | 2016 |
| Pages | 398 |
| Publication date | 2016-03-24 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | BOOK |
| Venue | The land reform deception (SOURCE_BOOK) |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199398294.001.0001 |
| OpenAlex | W4243111927 |
| Open Library | OL27232084M |
| ISBN | 9780199398294 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 11 |
This book explores what is inarguably the most socially and economically transformative event in Zimbabwe since independence in 1980—the land seizure era. It explains why Mugabe risked the social and economic well-being of Zimbabwe by targeting commercial farms, which were a vital source of commodities, a major employer, and a critical source of tax revenue. It also uncovers why the "land redistribution program," as Mugabe and the ruling ZANU-PF party claimed the takeovers to be, occurred 20 years after independence and in a very chaotic manner. It exposes why so many political "elites" with no knowledge of agriculture appeared to gain most from the seizures, and thus precipitated a catastrophic decline in commercial agriculture production. Government explanations for these events as land reform have simply never added up, and this book explains why. The data that underpins this book is unique: 111 in-depth interviews with senior politicians, members of the secretive Central Intelligence Organisation, the military, and police, along with farmers and workers who were targeted during the invasions; a major survey of Zimbabwean farmers, who have since scattered to 24 countries globally; and a mapping project that analyzed 21,491 instances of violence and intimidation over an eight-year period, giving vital longitudinal and spatial insights into where different types of violence and intimidation emerged. This book strips away official explanations and delves into the political and economic drivers that triggered the seizure of commercial farms
Agriculture · Business · Deception · Development economics · Economics · Geography · Government (linguistics) · Independence (probability theory) · Intimidation · Land reform · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Revenue · Sociology · African studies and sociopolitical issues · Law · 21st century · Africa · Agriculture and state · Economic conditions · Economic history · Fast Track Land Reform Programme (Zimbabwe) · Land tenure · politics and government · Zimbabwe
Implications of peri-urban land reform programs on urban land markets
The opportunity costs of the politics of division and disinformation in the context of the twenty-first century security deficit
Farms, farmworkers and new forms of livelihoods in southern Africa
Mugabe’s shadow
Artisanal Gold Mining and Farming
When militarisation endangered both human and state security
Squatters, access to land, and production of national narratives in post-colonial Kenya
Race, Entitlement, and Belonging
Nostalgia, Scapegoating, and Alterity Politics. An analysis of the Albatross Undercutting Zimbabwe’s Leverage of Bilateral Relations with China
Command Agriculture and Food Security
A country with land but no habitat
| Unique citing works | 11 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1.22 |
| Citation span | 2017 - 2025 (9) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 11 |