State, market or the worst of both? Experimenting with market-based land reform In South Africa

Abstract

The concept of ‘market-based land reform’ (MBLR, also market-assisted land reform, or market-led agrarian reform) has been central to the ‘new wave’ of land reform that has been in evidence internationally since the early 1990s. This so-called new wave followed a lull in land reform in most regions of the world during the 1980s, which marked the end of a long run of (capitalist and socialist) reforms in the decades since the end of the Second World War. This history, and the theoretical positions developed around it, have been debated extensively elsewhere, and will not be repeated here.2 Rather, this introductory section will focus on the relatively recent emergence of MBLR internationally and how the concept has been interpreted and applied in the southern African context. The subsequent section will look in detail at the case of South Africa, while the conclusion draws out key lessons for the region and their implications for land reform policies more generally.