Suchergebnisse

The paper tries to address attention to the recent phenomenon of large-scale land acquisitions (LSLAs) made by foreign investors in low-income agriculture-based countries. Since 2008, the phenomenon of LSLAs has increased at a very high speed and at a growing scale, although it has assumed different connotations, compared with previous LSLAs, with particular reference to the space concerned (the phenomenon has a global dimension), to the motivations behind it, to the way in which the acquisitions have been made, not to mention the impacts produced on local populations and the environment. The aim of the paper is that of contributing to examine, from the economic theory historic-analytical perspective, some aspects of contemporary LSLAs, global land and water grabbing in particular, which seem passed generally unnoticed. The main thesis will be that the dominant economic theory (neoclassical economics) appears indeed as an invisible though crucial driver of that phenomenon, in so far as it profoundly shapes the 'vision' which supposedly lies at the very background of most of the subjects and of the policy makers and institutions involved. It is suggested that an alternative 'vision' should be used instead – the contemporary classical economic theory rivaled by Sraffa in the 1960s.

The book is composed of several articles that explore complexity in its most varied aspects. The solution of contemporary problems, whatever they may be, requires a multifaceted vision, far beyond the reductionist perspective. The study of complex systems, however, does not have the capacity to offer ready answers to the challenges of humanity. On the contrary, it points to the increase in uncertainty, the need to control variables, and uncertainty. This does not mean, therefore, that we should simply ignore the social, economic, and political phenomena that are all around us. What this book demonstrates is the importance of knowledge being disseminated, and it is imperative that different sciences exchange ideas, theories, and breakthroughs.