Historiography of German Entrepreneurship in Siberia in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries

The historiography of ethnic entrepreneurship in pre-revolutionary Siberia has not yet been fully investigated. Individual works of researchers studied German entrepreneurship exclusively through the broader topic of foreign capital and its importance in the state economy. The subject of this article is historiography concerning the history of German entrepreneurship in the Siberian region. The purpose is to analyze the corresponding works on the history of entrepreneurial activity of the Germans in Siberia in the second half of the 19th – early 20th centuries. In this study both general and specialized scientific methods are used, which allowed to carry out a coherent analysis of the works of researchers on ethnic entrepreneurship in order to identify the main characteristics and approaches used. We have identified the characteristics and trends of German entrepreneurship considered by historians. German immigrants in Siberia in the second half of the 19th century became one of the main driving forces of the agrarian development in the region; they retained farms, acting both as independent merchants and as managers of firms. Historiographic analysis allows to formulate a conclusion about the positive influence of German entrepreneurship on the socio-economic development of Siberia in the period preceding the October Revolution. The article is of interest to researchers, teachers of history, and students of the humanities.

PHENOMENON OF AGRARIAN DEVELOPMENT OF THE USSR: SPECIFICITY OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOURSE

The purpose of the article is to analyze conceptual approaches in understanding the process of implementing agrarian policy in the USSR in the period 19221991. The research strategies that have developed in modern Russian historiography in recent decades and reveal the content of radical transformation of the agrarian system in the USSR are examined in this article. An assessment of comparability (the possibility of conducting a comparative analysis) of various methodological approaches and criteria for constructing concepts is described. The theses about the preservation or break of the historical continuity in the choice of the civilizational perspective, as well as on the methods and means of achieving the goal were recognized as key. It is concluded that it is necessary to move to the level of interdisciplinary and methodological synthesis as a necessary condition for explaining the civilizational mission of the Soviet project and national specifics in the context of world history. The high cognitive value of the concept of institutional cycles of civilizational development in relation to the agrarian history of Russia and the USSR is noted.

Land and Agrarian Development in South Africa

Land ownership and control historically underpinned patterns of unequal development in South Africa, with dispossession and the migrant labour economy being the basis for agrarian dualism and economic inequality. Yet land reform – the redistribution of white-owned commercial farms to black smallholders – has been a largely unfulfilled political promise during the first 25 years of democratic rule. South Africa’s negotiated transition produced a constitution that provides certain protections to property rights while simultaneously mandating land reforms through land redistribution, tenure reform and restitution, including via expropriation. Initially conceived as a pro-poor programme, land reform was reinvented over time, reflecting wider economic policy shifts, towards the creation of a small prosperous segment of black commercial farmers, thereby deracializing the dominant sector without restructuring landholdings and the agrarian economy. The shortcomings of land reform not only perpetuate inequalities inherited from colonialism and apartheid, but have also led to the production of new problems. We point to three recent and ongoing dynamics driving new and aggravated forms of land inequality: financialization, with the entry of new financial sector actors into corporate landholding, property portfolios and speculation; land concentration driven both by market forces and elite capture of public resources and corruption in land reforms; and land commodification driven by powerful corporate, political and traditional elites combining to expand large agricultural and mining investments in communal areas.

Structural Power and British Canal Colonization (1849-1947): A case study of Sheikhupura

The study examines that how British canal colonization totally altered the structure of agrarian development in colonial Punjab. The article examines how the new colonial categorization of canal colonization influenced the district of Sheikhupura, it investigates that how novel structure advanced strong ties between new masters and native people. It scrutinizes how British Government made the land of this district more fertile despite the downgrading of constant rainfall. Moreover, the author for this research has tested the hypothesis using qualitative methodologies, whereas primary source materials have put in from archival records and official documents from Punjab archival files. Plus, the critique on structural power by Michel Foucault has been applied to proof the power exploitation in Sheikhupura. As a whole, this research analysis the impacts of canal colonization in Sheikhupura for peasant classes who got advantage from this new system by getting employment.

Decolonizing Agrarian Knowledge and the Emergence of Indonesian Critical Agrarian Studies

Agricultural production growth has been the main priority in agrarian development in Indonesia but its ends and means have been varied. In the colonial era, an export- oriented colonial plantation system resulted in the transformation of the Indonesian land tenurial system. In the post-colonial period, Soekarno’s regime pursued agrarian development seeking to strengthening people’s land rights through its land reform policies. Land rights were seen as the basis for agricultural production. Soeharto’s New Order regime implemented its Green Revolution policy by developing agricultural mechanization and extensification which managed to improve agricultural production, but it gave greater privileges to the rural elite class and caused dependence on foreign inputs and aid. All agrarian policies were supported by knowledge produced through the research of influential institutions and individuals, including critical responses against the impacts of the transformation of land tenure. In this context, knowledge in agrarian studies with its critical perspectives were re-shaped as part of the process of knowledge decolonization.

The journals of the Primorsky and Amur communities of agriculture as a source on the history of the agrarian development of the Far Eastern region (early XX century)

The article deals with printed periodicals of large agricultural communities of the Amur region of the early XX century. It is shown to what extent the information published in them reflects the development of the agrarian sector of the region: government activities; development trends of the colonization land fund; the nature and methods of solving agricultural problems specific to the region. The conditions in which the Amur agricultural societies and the history of their printed periodicals operated are shown. An analysis of the publications of the communities suggests that they are an important source for studying the history of the agrarian development of the pre-revolutionary Far East.

Sustainability and Development: From Agrarian Development to the Paradigm of Sustainability

In post-industrial societies, the new ruralities represent scenarios of diffuse socio-spatial frontiers that overflow the classic rural/urban dichotomy [...]