Introduction to the Special Issue: The Political Economy of Agrarian Change: Essays in Appreciation of Henry Bernstein

Campling, Liam; Lerche, Jens

Abstract

This special issue presents five essays and an interview in appreciation of Henry Bernstein. The essays – by major scholars in the field of agrarian political economy – engage with different aspects of Bernstein’s oeuvre: from direct critical reflections on his approach to the peasantry and the agrarian question through to arguments developed in connection to his work on commercial capitalism, landed-property and the relationship between petty production and accumulation. This introduction briefly sets out some of the major aspects of Bernstein’s distinctive editorial, pedagogical and theoretical contributions. It suggests that his most crucial and lasting contribution is in his absorption and ability to apply Marx’s theory and method as a living theoretical and analytical approach to the study of agrarian political economy.

Citation

Campling, L., & Lerche, J. (2016). Introduction to the Special Issue: The Political Economy of Agrarian Change: Essays in Appreciation of Henry Bernstein. Journal of Agrarian Change, 16(3), 365-369. https://doi.org/10.1111/joac.12180

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 28, 2016
• Online Publication Date: Jun 27, 2016
• Publication Date: Jun 27, 2016
• Deposit Date: May 3, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: May 3, 2016
• Journal: Journal of Agrarian Change
• Print ISSN: 1471-0358
• Electronic ISSN: 1471-0366
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 16
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 365-369
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/joac.12180
• Keywords: peasant studies, agrarian political economy, agrarian question, Marxism
• Additional Information: Additional Information : This is the Accepted Version of an article published online by Wiley in Journal of Agrarian Change on 27 June 2016 available at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/joac.12180/abstract; References : Akram-Lodhi, A.H., and C., Kay, 2010a. ‘Surveying the Agrarian Question (Part 1): Unearthing Foundations, Exploring Diversity’. Journal of Peasant Studies, 37 (1), 177-202. Akram-Lodhi, A.H., and C. Kay 2010b. ‘Surveying the Agrarian Question (Part 2): Current Debates and Beyond’. Journal of Peasant Studies, 37 (2), 255-284. Bernstein, H., 1977. ‘Notes on Capital and Peasantry’. Review of African Political Economy, 4 (10): 60–73. Bernstein, H., 1996a. ‘The political economy of the maize filière’. Journal of Peasant Studies, 23(2-3): 120-145. Bernstein, H., 1996b. ‘Agrarian questions then and now’. Journal of Peasant Studies, 24 (1-2): 22-59. Bernstein, H., 2000. ‘Capitalism, colonialism, development’. In Poverty and Development in the Twenty-first Century, eds. T. Allen and A. Thomas, 241-270. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Bernstein, H., 2007. ‘Capital and labour from centre to margins’. Paper prepared for the Living on the Margins Conference, Stellenbosch, 26-28 March 2007. http://urbandevelopment.yolasite.com/resources/Capital%20and%20Labou%20in%20the%20Margin%20Bernstein.pdf [last accessed on 25 April 2016] Bernstein, H., 2009a. ‘V. I. Lenin and A. V. Chayanov: Looking Back, Looking Forward’. Journal of Peasant Studies 36(1): 55-81. Bernstein, H. 2009b. ‘Agrarian questions from transition to globalization’. In Peasants and Globalization. Political Economy, Rural Transformation and the Agrarian Question, eds. A. H. Akram-Lodhi and C. Kay, 239-261. London: Routledge. Bernstein, H., 2010a. Class Dynamics of Agrarian Change. Halifax: Fernwood Publishing. Bernstein, H., 2010b. ‘Introduction: some questions concerning the productive forces’. In Productive Forces in Capitalist Agriculture. Political Economy and Political Ecology, H. Bernstein and P. Woodhouse, special issue of Journal of Agrarian Change, 10 (3): 300-314. Bernstein, H., 2016. ‘Revisiting agrarian transition: reflections on long histories and current realities’. In Agrarian Transition in India, ed. B. Mohanty. London: Routledge. Bernstein, H. and T. Brass, eds., 1996. Agrarian Questions. Essays in Appreciation of TJ Byres, special issue of Journal of Peasant Studies, 24 (1-2): 1-250. Bernstein, H. and T.J. Byres, 2008. ‘From the retiring editors’, Journal of Agrarian Change, 8 (1): 2. Bernstein, H. and L. Campling, 2006a. ‘Commodity studies and commodity fetishism I: Trading Down’. Journal of Agrarian Change, 6(2): 239-264. Bernstein, H. and L. Campling, 2006b. ‘Commodity studies and commodity fetishism II: profits with principles?’. Journal of Agrarian Change, 6(3): 414-447. Bernstein, H., B. Crow, and H. Johnson eds., 1992. Rural Livelihoods: Crises and Responses, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Breman, J., 1996. Footloose Labour. Working in India’s Informal Economy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Byres, T., 1991. ‘The Agrarian Question and Differing Forms of Capitalist Agrarian Transition: An Essay with Reference to Asia’. In Rural Transformation in Asia, eds. Jan Breman and Sudipto Mundle, 3-76. Delhi: Oxford University Press. Byres, T., 1996. Capitalism from Above and Capitalism from Below: An Essay in Comparative Political Economy. Basingstoke and London: Macmillan. Davis, M., 2006. Planet of Slums. London: Verso. Friedmann, H. and P. McMichael 1989. ‘Agriculture and the state system: the rise and fall of national agricultures, 1870 to the present’. Sociologia Ruralis, 29 (2): 93–117. Harriss-White, B., 2003. India Working. Essays on Society and Economy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Jansen, K., 2015. ‘The debate on food sovereignty theory: agrarian capitalism, dispossession and agroecology’. Journal of Peasant Studies, 42 (1): 213-232. Johnston, D. C. Kay, J. Lerche and C. Oya, 2008. ‘From the new editors’, Journal of Agrarian Change, 8 (1): 3-5. McMichael, P., ‘A comment on Henry Bernstein's way with peasants, and food sovereignty’. Journal of Peasant Studies, 42 (1): 193-204. Silver, B.J. and G. Arrighi, 2000. ‘Workers North and South’. In The Socialist Register 2001, eds L.Panitch and C.Leys. London: Merlin Press. Warren, B., 1980. Imperialism. Pioneer of Capitalism. London: NBL and Verso.