Title:
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The state and agrarian change in Zimbabwe's communal areas : an application of critical theory
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The nature of agrarian policies and their impact on social
and economic change in Zimbabwe's communal areas, are the
substantive subjects investigated in this thesis. It is argued
that there are strong similarities between post-independence
policies and the policies of the 1930 to 1960 'technical
development phase' of the colonial era. For instance, the
contemporary grazing scheme and internal land reform policies
bear a close resemblance to the much resisted destocking and land
husbandry policies of the late 1940s and 1950s, when people lost
both land and cattle.
The thesis explores the reason for these continuities. Use is
made in this presentation of the critical theory of Jurgen
Habermas. In particular, Habermas' argument that an unnecessarily
one-sided process of societal rationalisation has taken place in
the modern era, is drawn upon. with the development of the
institutions of capitalism and the bureaucratic state, policy
actions, such as those considered in the Zimbabwean case, have
become dominated by a purposive rationality. This means rural
societies are not involved in the formulation of the policies
that closely affect their lives. Instead they are viewed
~isp~ssionately from within the state system as ignorant and
inclined to act against their own interests. policies, which are
imposed upon them, are then evaluated merely in terms of their
technical efficiency and strategic success.
The full potential of modernisation, Habermas believes, can
only be realised if the 'relations of force' that maintain nonreflective
forms of thought are broken down, and if purposiverational
action is subordinated to decisions reached through
unconstrained communication. Such a communicative rationality is
essential to the successful reproduction of societies. Applying
this perspective to the Zimbabwean situation, it is-argued in the
thesis that policy measures will indeed only become more
effective in enhancing rural social and economic welfare, if
greater dialogue does occur between rural leaders and government
agencies. A proviso to this is that the leaders must be accepted
as legitimate representatives by their peoples and not merely be
those empowered by the state.
In validation of this claim, it is shown how the epistemoloqy
peasant farmers hold, with regard to the environment and the
nature of an ideal land use system, is entirely different from
that held by western educated technical experts. For the
perspective of farmers is developed upon the basis that the
intr ins ic feature of savanna environments is their var iabi 1 i ty,
not their normality. Preferred agricultural and pastoral
management strateg.ies are therefore adapted to coping with
inconsistency and adversity. Critical to such an indigenous
farming system are 'key resource' wetland areas, which are
productive, if carefully managed, even in dry seasons. Holding
that the use of such areas leads to degradation, successive
governments since the 1930s have, however, banned their use.
Moreover, the high population densities in the communal areas and
the inadequate access to land, labour and livestock resources of
the majority of households, has led to people being forced to
abuse their environment.
Through an analysis of the activities of Agritex, the
Zimbabwean agricultural extension agency, it is also argued that radical substantive policy change is dependent upon prior
structural and attitudinal change within bureaucratic agencies.
The psychological as well as material barriers that prevent the
improvement of mutual understanding between rural peoples and
outside officials require to be breached.
In summary, Habermas' critical theory is used to draw
attention to the question of epistemology, both in the
implementation of policies and in the conduct of research. In
social science and social policy, there is a need to move away
from the objectifying impersonalisation of positivism towards a
___ ore critical theory of knowledge. The principal concern of such
a theory is to tackle social 'relations of force' through a prior
recognition and reconciliation of conflicting interpretations of
the world. For this to occur, however, requires us all to accept
responsibility for the value choices we make, but nevertheless to
be aware of the inevitably limited nature of the understanding
upon which these choices are based. In this way 'alternative
possibilities' for soci~l change in Zimbabwe, as elsewhere, may
be realised.
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