Renegotiating the Rural Social Contract? Environmental Change and Social Inequalities in Morocco’s Olive Sector
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 24138698 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Birgit Kemmerling (0000-0002-6830-2094, BICC - Bonn International Centre for Conflict Studies, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 1-18 |
| Publication date | 2026-08-22 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Society & Natural Resources (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0894-1920 • E-ISSN: 1521-0723 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/08941920.2026.2717713 |
| OpenAlex | W7204002027 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 38 |
This article links the concept of the social contract with political ecology approaches to understand the bidirectional relationships between a rural social contract and environmental change. Focusing on the olive sector in the Saïss Plain of the Fès-Meknès region, it investigates how formal or informal agreements between different social groups and the state govern access to natural resources, the extent to which the state protects rural populations from the social and ecological impacts associated with it, and how these dynamics prompt a renegotiation of the rural social contract. Drawing on a comprehensive literature review and semi-structured interviews with diverse stakeholders in the olive sector, the study finds that the uneven provision of access to resources benefits a (new) rural elite, while environmental impacts disproportionally affect smallholders. Their limited opportunities for political participation, however, constrain meaningful renegotiation of a contract that continues to prioritize agricultural productivity over ecological sustainability.
Agricultural productivity · Agriculture · Environmental change · Natural resource · Political ecology · Politics · Productivity · Rural area · State (computer science) · Agricultural Innovations and Practices · Agriculture, Land Use, Rural Development · Organic Food and Agriculture
Export(t)räume
A Theory of Justice
The transition to a sustainable society
The political impacts of adaptation actions
Two Scenarios for Sustainable Welfare
Political ecology 1
Socio-technical regimes and sustainability transitions
From worker to peasant and then to entrepreneur? Land reform and agrarian change in the Saïss (Morocco)
Redefining the social contract in the wake of the Arab Spring
The rise and decline of the populist social contract in the Arab world
The social contract as a tool of analysis
Mapping land use competition in the rural–urban fringe and future perspectives on land policies
Contesting expertise
Postscript
A New Rural Social Contract for the Maghreb? The Political Economy of Access to Water, Land and Rural Development
The limits of 'neoliberal natures
Political ecology II
Neoliberalism, environmentalism, and agricultural restructuring in Morocco
Rethinking Social Contracts
The rationale of the Green Morocco Plan
The rural social contract in Morocco and Algeria
Dispossessing H2O
A Theory of Access
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |