Colombian Peasants in the Neoliberal Age: Between War Rentierism and Subsistence

Contents
List of Illustrations
	Figures
	Maps
	Tables
Foreword
	From Subsumption to Re‑peasantization
	Zones of Peasant Reserves
	Indigenous Resguardos (Reservations)
	Afro‑Descendants and the Community Councils
	References
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Peasants in the Neoliberal Age, Theories and Research Question
	Review of Relevant Theories on Peasantry and Peasant Economy
		Peasant Studies Literature
		The Modernization Theories: Peasants and the Post–World War II Literature
		Marxist Theory of the Peasantry
		The Polish Experience and the Myth of the Vanishing Peasant
	Peasant Economy: The Struggle between Rentier Capital and Noncapitalist Mode
	From Identity Politics to Class Identity
	Book Map
Chapter 1 The Emergence of the Neoliberal State, Rentier Economics, and the Agrarian Question
	The State, Landed Elite, and Land Reform
	Law 200 of 1936: The Promise and the Fall of Land Reform
	Land Dispossession and Displacement during La Violencia (1948–1958)
	Carlos Lleras Restrepo’s (1966–1970) Law 135 of 1961 and Law 1 of 1968
	The Chicoral Pact: Law 4 of 1973 and Currie’s “Four Strategies”
	Currie’s Legacy and the Consolidation of the Neo‑Liberal Doctrine
	The “Neoliberal Organic” Economists and Questions of Social and Land Inequality
	The Political Power of the Landed Elite
	Rentier‑“Buddy Capitalism,” Mining, and the Quest of Land
	Conclusion
Chapter 2 Rentierism, Cattle Ranching, and Food Insecurity in Colombia
	Defining and Amending “Rentier” Capitalism
	The Commoditization of Land
	Cattle Ranching in Colombia’s Historiography
	The Institutional Setting
		Land Laws
		Peasants’ Agency and Trade Liberalization
	Narcoinvestment and the Rural Economy
	The Displaced and New Land Laws
	Lucrative Land Market–Enhancing Food Insecurity
		Land Prices and Food Production
	Concluding Remarks
Chapter 3 Peasant Reserves’ Adaptability, Resistance, Subsumption, and War Rentierism
	Methodology and Research Questions
	Peasants, Growth, and Uneven Development
	Historical Background
		Peasant Struggles and Laying the Foundation for Peasant Colonies
		The Great Depression of 1929–1932 and Re‑peasantization
		The “Independent Republics” between Right‑Wing Slogans and Peasants’ Radicalization
		The Preamble to Law 160 of 1994 that Created the Peasant Reserves
	Peasant Reserves 1994–Present
	Pato‑Balsillas and the Colonization of the Caqueta
		Historical Background
		Fumigation of Coca Crops, Mobilization, and the Creation of the Reserve
	General Description and Characteristics of the Reserve
		Women’s Participation
		Peasant Production Systems and the Interplay of Adaptability, Resistance, and Subsumption
		Family‑based Production
		Capitalist Farms: The “Fifth System”
	Peasant Agroecology as an Alternative Model
		Autonomy and the Social Fund
		Agroecology: An Alternative Path
	Resistance to the Extractive Rentier Economy in Caquetáa
	Geography and Social Composition: Cimitarra
		Governance: Popular Action Committees (JACs)
		The Peasant Association of the Plain of the Cimitarra River (ACVC) Leadership
		Economic Activity
	Adaptation, Resistance, Subsumption, and Multinational Corporations
		Coca Production and Capital Subsumption
	Conclusion
Chapter 4 The Struggle for Survival: The Indigenous People
	The Threat: Expansion of War Rentierism
	Historical Context
		Defining the “Path of Economic Dependency” of Colombia 1750–1900
		The Resguardos under Colonial Rule and Postindependence
	The Indigenous Lands and the Expansion of the Rentier Economy
	Colombia’s Conglomerates and War Rentierism in Meta
		Sarmiento Angulo Group
		Santo Domingo Group
		Fazenda and Indigenous
	The Englobed Indigenous: Clientelism and Subsumption
	Land Leasing, Adaptability, Resistance, and Subsumption
		Adaptability
		Resistance
		The Younger Generation and the Process of Subsumption
	War Rentierism 2016–
	Cauca Resguardos between Resistance and Adaptability
	CRIC and the Articulation of Ethnic Identity
		The Indigenous People of Cauca
		Historical Background of the Legalistic Approach
		CRIC and Its Foundation (1971–present)
		The Pact of Chicoral and the CRIC
		The Stepping Stone: Law 89 of 1890
		The Formation of a Political Identity: Class and Ethnicity
		Autonomy, Governance, and the Westphalian State
	Rentier Capital, the Indigenous, and Subsumption in Cauca
		Sugar Cane Biofuels’ Monopolies and the Indigenous
		Horizontal Integration and Land Leasing: Between Adaptability and Resistance
		Indigenous Population Growth and Land Conflict: From Adaptability to Resistance
		Coca, Money Economy, and Adaptation
		Cultural Subsumption and a Counterhegemonic Project
		Indigenous Women and the CRIC: “Resistance within the Resistance”
		Representation and Schism: CRIC‑ONIC
	Conclusion
Chapter 5 War Rentierism’s Impact on Afro‑Colombians in Cauca
	Setting the Stage: The Struggle for Emancipation and Autonomy
	War Rentierism, Violent Entrepreneurs, and Subsumption
		A Rentier State Forfeiting Its Rents: The Paez Law in Cauca (1996–present)
	Multinational Corporations, Collective Land Titling, and Political Fragmentation
		The Telegram Campaign and Law 70 of 1993
		The State, Dominant Class, and the Community Councils
	Northern Cauca: Dispossession and Proletarianization
		Community Councils and the State
		Multinational Corporations and Communal Properties
		Multinational Corporations (MCs), Commodity Chains, and Subsumption
	Puerto Tejada: Capital Subsumption, Proletariatanization, and Re‑Peasantization
	Types of Miners/Mining and the Commodity Chain
	Violent Entrepreneurs, Youth Gangs, and Rebels: A Diagnostic
		Mexican Drug Cartels in Cauca
	Afro‑Colombians and Indigenous: Resistance, Cooperation, and Tension
	Afro‑Colombians and the Political Learning Curve
	The Community Councils between Promise and Peril
	The Differential Impact of War Rentierism on African Colombian Women
	Conclusion
Conclusion: Peasant Resistance and War Rentierism
	Theoretical Implications of This Research
		Class Consciousness and Identity Politics
	Peasant Communities and the Challenges Ahead
		Increased Dependency
		Internal Schisms and Cooptation
		Youth and the Intergenerational Gap
		War Rentierism and Extractive Resources
	Conclusion and Future Research
		Future Research and Socioeconomic Analysis
Postscript
	Petro’s Government, the Agrarian Elite
	Prospects of the Peasant Economy
	Shifting from Oil and Coal toward a More Sustainable “De‑Growth” Model
	Conclusion
Appendix
	The Scope of the Research Interviews
Notes
Bibliography
Index