The article reconstructs the successful struggle of the Agyemankata community against the Kwabenya landfill project in Accra, Ghana, which lasted from 2001 to 2010. Situating itself in the literature on displacement, it asks which factors led to this success. Investigating the correspondence and newspaper articles regarding the resistance, we conclude that the main factors include an uncompromising stance against relocation and compensation coupled with a principled refusal to be coopted; an active media and communication strategy focused on the rule of law, democracy, human rights, and environmental protection; and the support of independent experts. The article further argues that the authorities made mistakes that played into the protesters’ hands.

The article aims to reflect on the dichotomy within the Brazilian agriculture between export-oriented monoculture and domestically oriented family farming by means of the discrepancy in their access to credit. By expanding the structuralist category of “structural heterogeneity” to encompass asymmetries in terms of the quality of financing sources and the volume of credit available to each, the article contributes to a better understanding of the differentiated economic–spatial dimension of rural credit quality. It also highlights the financing gaps in productive activities for these two major groups in Brazilian agriculture that compromise the possibilities of a more harmonious national development strategy aligned with eco-socio-environmental objectives.

This article analyzes the evolving trends in tenancy contracts in India. Using official statistical data, the study observes a U-shaped pattern in the proportion of land leased and the share of cultivators engaged in tenancy over time. This declined until 1991–1992 and was followed by a considerable increase since 2002–2003. Notably, in the 1970s, semi-medium cultivators were the predominant tenant class. However, in the revival phase, landless and near-landless households emerged as the principal demanders for land under the tenancy. The article argues that in the 1970s, the green revolution and the changes in public policy related to agriculture caused an increase in productivity and profitability and the introduction of markets for many factors and output which were previously nontraded, all of which induced a decline in the extent of tenancy. In the subsequent phase, as the impact of new technology tapered out and state support declined, the rising cost of cultivation and reduced returns created disincentives for landowners to cultivate, giving rise to absenteeism and an employment and livelihood crisis and leading to the revival of tenancy and the emergence of labor-supplying households as the primary tenant group.

This article traces how wilderness, wildlife, and livelihood discourses are deployed in tandem by states, imperialist institutions, researchers, and foreign capital to subjugate African economies to new logics of accumulation from above and below in the neocolonial stage. In the process, wilderness becomes a bounded yet transcending ideological and discursive vessel of nature, people, and society, which can be manipulated and drawn from to support imperialist economic programs and legitimize patterns of monopolistic land ownership and control in many African countries. Drawing from empirical studies to support its main thesis, the article focuses primarily on Africa, where wilderness and wildlife enclosures strangle agrarian systems to incorporate more lands and resources into global markets at a formidable spatial and temporal scale. Specifically, after an overview of scholarly critiques of wilderness, it dicusses how, after African nations gained political sovereignty, wilderness contributed to the state-making project to mobilize their natural heritage around national identities, restructure their economies for foreign capital, and secure territories for both state control and foreign capital. This involves the expansion of wilderness enclosures to connect contiguous wildlife habitats that has intensified the concentration of land and resources across national boundaries in the hands of foreign capital. By way of conclusion, the article places the question of wilderness enclosures within the broader framework of the national question of land, that is, of the sovereign right of African states to direct land use toward internally beneficial and articulated ‘development’ for the improved livelihoods of the majority while preserving the non-human world.

India’s economy has undergone significant transformation since independence. This article examines the Indian economy 75 years after independence and highlights key concerns in current times. It begins with a snapshot of the country’s economic growth and structure. A key finding is that the benefits of economic growth have not reached a large section of the population. The article goes deeper and analyzes the crisis in the world of work and the agriculture sector, which remains the backbone of the economy and the largest employer. This sector has suffered neglect in recent times, further exacerbating the crisis. To move forward, India must prioritize the prosperity of its workforce and address the crisis in rural areas. This is crucial to ensure inclusive economic growth and development.

Structural transformation of the workforce in terms of shifting a sizable section of workers from primary/low-paid/informal to secondary (manufacturing)/high-paid/formal employment has remained a crucial challenge for India’s industrial policies. During the neoliberal regime, such transformation was expected through private sector expansion, positively associated with the economy’s overall growth. Recent industrial policies and programs emphasize entrepreneurial development as a strategy for achieving the successful economic transformation of the country. The fundamental assumption underlying this policy discourse is to provide an enterprise with enough information and awareness about the existing economic demand and to correct the supply-side factors in line with overall demand. Strategies to foster higher growth and address relevant supply-side constraints remained primary policy tools. Using unit-level data from NSSO surveys, this article explores employment structure changes by mapping changes in the share of workers engaged in manufacturing or secondary activities across major enterprise types in 2004–2024. It also examines how the change in the workforce structure improved job quality. It is argued that, despite initiating many schemes and programs, the overlooked demand-side problems and the market’s exclusionary nature have not effected the structural transformation of employment.

This article analyses the historical and structural dynamics of Brazil’s white-settler industrial bourgeoisie and its roots, focusing on the Federação das Indústrias do Estado de São Paulo (FIESP), and its role in shaping neoliberal policies and undermining neo-developmentalist projects. It argues that Brazil’s capitalist development is rooted in colonial and neocolonial frameworks, characterized by racial hierarchies, dependency on foreign capital, and the dominance of a white-settler elite. The study analyses the Workers’ Party (PT) governments (2003–2016), which attempted to reconcile social inclusion with industrial growth but were constrained by FIESP and its alignment with global monopoly capital. Drawing on FIESP’s publications and historical data, the research demonstrates how the Federation advocated for neoliberal reforms, foreign investment, and state retrenchment, particularly during crises such as the 2016 parliamentary coup against President Dilma Rousseff. This event marked a deliberate shift towards consolidating financialized capitalism and prioritizing elite interests over developmentalist agendas. The analysis highlights contradictions within Brazilian capitalism, including the bourgeoisie’s reliance on transnational capital, the marginalization of workers, and the failure of neo-developmentalism to address core-periphery inequalities. The study contributes to debates on the limits of reformist industrial policies in peripheral economies dominated by financialized global capital.