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Contested Extractivism, Society and the State pp 219–242Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Contested Market-Driven Land Reform in Malawi

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Part of the book series: Development, Justice and Citizenship ((SIID))

Abstract

This chapter explores the complexities of contemporary market-driven land reform in Malawi through the case of the Community Based Rural Land Development Project. By discussing the stories of beneficiaries returning home shortly after the project’s inception, this chapter critically analyses the politics of resettlement underpinning land reform. I argue that the ‘willing seller, willing buyer’ model, while driven by the strong ethos of formalizing the rural economy, at the same time creates inequalities in resource access and social exclusion. The chapter concludes that market-driven land redistribution projects involve a broader restructuring of political power and authority, without extinguishing the functions of existing institutions governing land.

The chapter was written as a contribution to the MIUR research project PRIN 2010/2011 ‘State Plurality, and Change in Africa’, Department of Political and Social Sciences, University of Bologna.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The British Central African Company was one of the largest British-owned companies operating in Nyasaland that obtained vast land concessions throughout the Protectorate, including large estates in Thyolo. As noted by McCracken (2012, p. 308), the company was known for its inefficient organisation: in 1948 it made productive use of only 6340 acres of land out of a total of 329,353 acres.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Political and Social Sciences, University of Bologna, Stellenbosch, South Africa

    Davide Chinigò

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  1. Davide Chinigò
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Correspondence to Davide Chinigò .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Bettina Engels

  2. Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Kristina Dietz

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Chinigò, D. (2017). Contested Market-Driven Land Reform in Malawi. In: Engels, B., Dietz, K. (eds) Contested Extractivism, Society and the State. Development, Justice and Citizenship. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58811-1_10

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