POLITICALGEOGRAPHY,Vol. 11, No.

1,January 1992,12-36

Political ecology
An emerging research agenda in Third-World studies

RAYMOND L. BRYANT

Department of Political Studies, School of Oriental andAj%un Studies, Universi~ of

London, TI?ombaugh Street, Russell Square, London WClH OXG, UK

ABSTRACT. This paper is a preliminary exploration of Third-World political

ecology. In the first part of the paper, a framework for understanding the
emerging research agenda is developed that embraces three critical areas of
inquiry. These are: the contextual sources of environmental change; conflict over
access; and the political ramifications of environmental change. Each of these
areas of inquiry is addressed by way of a two-fold strategy-the relevant
literature is first reviewed, and then central analytical issues are discussed.
Throughout, it is suggested that Third-World political ecology represents an
attempt to develop an integrated understanding of how environmental and
political forces interact to mediate social and environmental change. In a world
where environmental problems assume growing political significance, this form
of integrated understanding is long overdue.

Introduction

In the future, the interaction between environmental and political forces will mediate
Third-World’ development in unprecedented ways. Thus, as environmental problems
assume greater political significance, the need for an analytical approach integrating
environmental and political understanding becomes more pressing. In the 198Os, scholars
from diverse academic and institutional backgrounds began to examine the links between
environmental and political activities in parts of Asia, Africa and Latin America.’
Correspondingly, a body of work that may be termed Third-World political ecology
emerged. This paper argues that such work suggests a fruitful research agenda in
Third-World studies.
Diverse scholarship has highlighted aspects of this agenda. Emel and Peet (1989), for
example, review work on resource management and natural hazards. Watts (1989) and
Berry (1989a) consider the literature of the African agrarian studies movement. Beinart
(1989, 1990) addresses recent research on hunting and conservation in colonial Africa.
Redclift (1984, 1987), Blaikie and Brookfield (1987b), Blaikie (1988b, 1989b) and Adams
(1990a) also explore aspects of Third-World political ecology.3 These works offer a
tantalizing glimpse of how political and environmental understanding is being integrated

0962.6298/92/010012-25 0 1992 Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd

 RHMOND L. BRYANT 13
in diverse settings. They do not, however, provide a general treatment; consequently, the
parameters of the emerging research agenda have not been systematically examined.
This essay, a preliminary exploration of Third-World political ecology, emphasizes
analytical clarification over critical evaluation.* In discussing such research, the objective is
not to exaggerate the coherence of this emerging agenda, but to highlight common themes
and suggest areas for further exploration. Moreover, this essay constitutes a preliminary
appraisal, and does not attempt to be comprehensive. With such caveats in mind, the
structure of the argument may be summarized as follows. First, after a preliminary
introduction to Third-World political ecology, a framework for understanding the
emerging research agenda is developed, embracing three critical areas of inquiry: the
contextual sources of environmental change; conflict over access; and the political
ramifications of environmental change. In examining each area, the paper adopts a
two-fold strategy-reviewing the relevant literature, and then exploring central analytical
issues. In so doing, the central objective is to analyse these three key aspects of the
emerging agenda. In the final section, the paper’s approach is summarized and several
implications for further research suggested.

A framework for understanding

In reviewing the human-environmental literature, Deutsch (1977: 359) lamented that

‘political processes and institutions are rarely mentioned directly and even more rarely
analysed in detail. And yet, the substance of politics is inescapably implied in almost
every ecosocial problem’. This dynamic interaction of environmental and political forces
has but recently received scholarly attention. It was only in the 198Os, that Third-World
political ecology emerged as a research agenda. As the framework is developed, key
elements of this agenda will be discussed. First, however, the general approach of
Third-World political ecology must be addressed, and its possible interpretations
considered.
Broadly, Third-World political ecology may be defined as the attempt to understand the
political sources, conditions and ramifications of environmental change. Specifically,
Blaikie and Brookfield (198717: 17) offer a useful working definition:

The phrase ‘political ecology’ combines the concerns of ecology and a broadly
defined political economy. Together this encompasses the constantly shifting
dialectic between society and land-based resources, and also within classes and
groups within society itself.

Such a definition has much to commend it, particularly when extended to encompass not
only ‘land’, but more generally ‘environment’. In utilizing this interpretation, however,
economic reductionism must be avoided. As such reductionism has been a recurrent
feature in Third-World political ecology, it is therefore important to review briefly the ways
in which economic reductionism simplifies reality, diminishing analytical accuracy.
Economic reductionism can weaken research in Third-World political ecology in at least
three ways. First, reductionism fails to attribute explanatory significance to ecological
factors5 Thus, as Blaikie (1989a: 22) notes in the context of African desertification:
any attempt to attribute desertification to ‘natural forces’ other than the
penetration of capitalism is written off in some quarters as merely a bourgeois
red herring. This is a simplistic and unnecessary polarisation since it is the
dialectic between environmental and social change which must provide the
context in which land degradation is discussed.
14 Political ecology

Secondly, economic reductionism neglects other sources of environmental change. By

equating social action with capitalist development, it not only neglects ecological factors,
but also devalues the role and importance of state and interstate forces. Hence, it
impoverishes understanding of the complex interaction of contextual sources which
together, but in differentiated and often contradictory ways, relate to and are affected by
environmental change.
Finally, economic reductionism also excludes from serious consideration those
‘without’ power-peasants and other socially-disadvantaged groups, AS with the
environment and the state, the role of peasants is dismissed as analytically insignificant.
And yet, such premises are ill-founded-those ‘without’ power are not always as incapable
of resistance as reductionist accounts might imply.' As Giddens (1979: 149) reminds us: ‘all
power relations, or relations of autonomy and dependence, are reciprocal: however wide
the asymmetrical distribution of resources involved, all power relations manifest
autonomy and dependence “in both directions”.’
The preceding discussion highlights the dangers of economic reductionism. In this
paper, then, Third-World political ecology is understood as inclusive, premised on the
view that it must be sensitive to the interplay of diverse socio-political forces, and the
relationship of those forces to environmental change. The following framework explores
the complexities of political and environmental interaction; consequently, its approach
‘aims to unify but through an appreciation of plurality of purpose and flexibility in
explanation’ (Blaikie and Brookfield, 198713: 25).
Taking first the contextual sources of environmental change, then, the following
topics can be identified: state policies, interstate relations, and global capitalism. Such
topics reflect the growing impact of national and transnational forces on the environment
in a world of increased political and economic interdependence. In contrast, the second
element of the framework addresses conflict over access, and emphasizes location-
specific struggles over the environment. Embracing both the historical and contemporary
dynamics of conflict, this research area illustrates how those ‘without’ power fight to
protect the environmental foundations of their livelihood. The final area of inquiry
considers the political ramifications of environmental change. By addressing issues
of socio-economic impact and political process, this element of the framework
focuses on an often neglected area of human-environmental interaction: namely,
the important effects of environmental change on socio-economic and political
relationships.
In addressing the political ramifications of environmental change, however, caution
must be exercised. Analyses of how environmental change may affect diverse
socio-economic groups and concrete political processes differ, and must never be
confused with environmental determinism. As Peet (1985) and others have shown,
environmental determinism is better understood as an expression of racist sentiments
than as an example of serious geographical research. In contrast, discussion of the political
ramifications of environmental change is designed to complement understanding of the
other elements of the framework-the contextual sources of environmental change and
conflict over access.
Juxtaposing these areas of inquiry in a single framework underscores the
scale-dependent nature of research in Third-World political ecology. Discussion of
‘contextual sources’, location-specific ‘conflict over access’, and ‘political ramifications’,
must embrace recognition of the different socio-political, economic and ecological scales
involved.’ And, as this paper now illustrates, such a multiplicity of scales ensures diverse
approaches and conclusions.
 lb.mor;n L. BRYANT 15

Contextual sources of environmental change

In Third-World political ecology, research has examined extensively, if somewhat
unevenly, the contextual sources of environmental change. The identification of such
sources constitutes the first element in the framework. Correspondingly, environmental
change needs to be related to state policies, interstate relations and global capitalism.
One contextual source extensively canvassed in the literature is that of state policies. As
Walker (1989: 32) notes, there is ‘an inherent, continuing potential for conflict between the
state’s roles as developer and as protector and steward of the natural environment on
which its existence ultimately depends’. A variety of regional and thematic studies have
documented this ambiguity. In Repetto (1988a), Repetto and Gillis (1988) and Hurst
(1990), for example, state policies are linked with processes of deforestation. Making
reference to Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Brazil, Gillis (1988a, 1988b), Boado
(1988) and Browder (1988b) cite the trade, taxation and industrial as well as foresq
policies that have fostered policy contexts detrimental to the sustainable use of forest
resources. McDowell (1989), Bautista (1990), Porter (1990), Anderson (1987), Guha (1985,
1990), Hirsch and Lohmann (1989), Kulkarni (1983) and Smil(l984,1987) also relate state
policy to forest use in different Third-World countries. In recent years, several states have
belatedly attempted to reverse processes of forest decline. Peluso and Poffenberger (1989)
and Hafner and Apichatvullop (1990) examine such efforts in Indonesia and Thailand.
The Brazilian Amazon is particularly rich in case-study material. Although long subject to
exploitation, political and economic forces set in motion by the 1964 military coup
accelerated Amazonian change, contributing to ‘Brazil’s social and environmental
mortgage’ (Guimaraes, 1989: 99). Hecht (1984, 1985), Repetto (1988b), Pompermayer
(1984), Myers (1984), Branford and Glock (1985) and Browder (1988a, 1988b) document
the credit and infrastructural inducements used to promote large-scale investment in
ecologically and economically dubious cattle-ranching in the eastern Amazon. Bunker
(1980), Schmink (1988a) and Wood and Schmink (1979) note the adverse impact on
activities (extraction; small-scale farming) previously encouraged by the state. As
manifested in the Greater Carajas programme, Hall (1987, 1989), Fearnside (1986) and
Anderson (1990) examine the state’s role in continued regional upheaval, while
Cummings (1990) addresses the controversial energy policies designed to exploit the
region’s enormous potential for hydro-electric power, but which are irrevocablv
transforming its social and ecological character.
The BraZilian state persists with such disastrous policies, but in addressing this issue,
Hecht and Cockburn (1989), Schmink and Wood (1987), Bunker (1985a) and Hall (1989),
amongst many others, emphasize the inter-linked nature of state and commercial interests.
Moreover, as Bunker (1982, 1985b) and Guimardes (1989) suggest, internal divisions and
the imposition of inappropriate bureaucratic procedures on the region may also impair
the state’s ability to develop coherent policies. Brazil has not been alone, however, in
perpetuating deleterious social and environmental policies. Collins (1986) and Painter
(1987) make note of similar policies in neighbouring countries.
The state influences environmental change in other ways too. The manipulation of water
supplies and pastoralist-farmer relations in Africa is particularly illustrative. Peters (1984),
Cliffe and Moorsom (1979), Hedlund (1979), Worby (1988) and Toure (1988) relate the
state-led introduction of boreholes in Botswana, Kenya and Senegal to transformed
pastoralist lifestyles and environmental degradation. Horowitz and Salem-Murdock (1987)
explore the socio-ecological impact of a state-sponsored dam and mechanized irrigation
works in Sudan. Various studies (e.g. Goldsmith and Hildyard, 1984, 1986; Adams, 1990a)
examine the impact of dam construction.
16 Politicalecology

State intervention in pastoralist-farmer relations also contributes to environmental

change. Bassett (1988) examines the socio-ecological complexities of state support for
Fulani pastoralists in the Ivory Coast. Typically, however, and even in ecologically fragile
areas, the state has favoured settled agriculture over pastoral activities, intensifying
processes of environmental degradation. In diverse African settings, Thompson (1985),
Horowitz (1986), Ahmed (1987) and Horowitz and Little (1987) highlight some of the
consequences of such intervention.
While the state’s environmental performance has been extensively examined, interstate
sources of environmental change have yet to be fully addressed. Walker (1989) and Mische
(1989) note how the interaction between sovereign states can militate against long-term
environmental stability. Interstate warfare is the most obvious facet of this interaction to
receive attention. Drawn from the Vietnam War experience (Westing, 1976; Neilands et al.,
1972), such research addresses the ecological impacts of the use of herbicides,
high-explosive munitions and other weaponry. Lauren (1982) offers an introduction to this
material, but a series commissioned by the Stockholm International Peace Research
Institute (Westing 1980,1984a, 1984b, 1985), constitutes a more ambitious treatment of the
subject, Although most research on interstate warfare examines the environmental
consequences of nuclear war, Pittock et al. (1985) and Ambio (1983) provide two of the
more comprehensive efforts. Integrating diverse aspects of the literature, Galtung (1982)
analyses the impact of military activity on both environmental and developmental
processes.
Much of this research, however, is general; consequently, there is a need for regional-
and national-oriented analyses. Hjort af Ornas and Mohamed Salih (1989) provide one,
albeit uneven, example in an African setting. In diverse national and regional contexts,
essays in this volume explore the contemporary social and ecological implications of
recurrent warfare and endemic personal and group insecurity. In contrast, Kemf (1990)
combines personal narrative with scientific investigation in order to assess the lingering
social and ecological effects of American environmental warfare in Vietnam. This research,
however, only pans the surface of salient issues, and much more work needs to be done.
While warfare is undeniably important, environmental change may also result from the
peaceful interaction of states. Two quite different examples illustrate this point: the link
between international aid and environmental change, and international watershed
management.
The link between international aid and socio-ecological disruption has been the focus of
mounting concern and criticism. Through national and multi-lateral agencies, First-World
states have facilitated socially and environmentally disruptive policies and practices in diverse
Third-World settings8 Many of the environmental changes associated with state policies may
also be partially attributed to such interstate cooperation. This cooperation, for example, has
disrupted pastoralist-farmer relations with local ecosystems (Horowitz, 1986; Ahmed, 1987)
and through support for transmigration schemes (Le Prestre, 1989; Hurst, 1990; Colchester,
I986), and large-scale hydro-electric projects (Goldsmith and Hildyard, 1984, 1986;
Cummings, I990), has contributed to deforestation. Undoubtedly important, the contribution
of aid agencies to environmental change must not be overemphasized: ‘it remains an open
question. as to how much influence aid agencies actually have on the nature and course of
development projects, The power of aid donors is often exaggerated, and of course varies a
great deal’ (Adams, 1990a: 166). Moreover, in an era of heightened environmental awareness
in both the Third and First Worlds, the possibilities for both socially and ecologically more
sensitive interstate cooperation-or what has been termed ‘the greening of aid’ (Conroy and
Litvinoff, 1988)-shouldnotbediscounted.
 k,YMOND L. &W4NT 17

Peaceful cooperation between states also contributes to environmental change in other

ways-international watershed management being an example. As the literature on the
Nile watershed illustrates, however, such cooperation remains tentative and, in a world of
sovereign states, ever subject to disruption. The Nile has long been affected by what
Waterbury (1979) terms ‘hydropolitics’, and Collins (1990) and Godana (1985) examine
the colonial antecedents to modern riparian cooperation. Waterbury (1979) Haynes and
Whittington (1981), Godana (1985), Collins (1990), Whinington and Haynes (1985) and
Beshir (1984) explore contemporary processes of cooperation between Egypt and the
Sudan. Collins (1990) and Howell et al. (1988) offer detailed analyses of the ill-fated
Jonglei Canal project, These and other, more general, works (e.g. Myers, 1989), emphasize
how socio-economic and ecological changes in the region indicate the need for expanded
interstate cooperation, while highlighting the political difficulties associated with it. As
Godana (1985) points out, however, the political difficulties associated with international
watershed management are hardly unique to the Nile. The internal and interstate
antipathies that often lead to war are a powerful and enduring obstacle to the cooperation
that international river management requires.”
If these interstate sources have yet to receive adequate attention, the links between
global capitalism and Third-World environmental change have been extensively examined.
Redclift (1984, 1987), O’Connor (1989) and Shanmugaratnam (1989) broadly relate such
change to patterns of First-World development. Other studies explore this relationship in
greater depth. Thus, Mekvichai (1988) and Lohmann (1990) examine the environmental
consequences of commercial forestry in Thailand. Schmink (1988b), Branford and Clock
(1985) Hecht (1984,1985), Schmink and Wood (1987), Bunker (1980,1984,1985a), Wood
and Schmink (1979) and Hecht and Cockburn (1989) assess the impact of capitalist
development on Amazonian ecosystems.
It is in the African context, however, that capitalism, environmental degradation and
poverty have been most systematically inter-related. Watts (1983b) and Franke and Chasin
(1980) examine the links between expanded groundnut and cotton cultivation and West
Africa’s increased vulnerability to drought. O’Brien (1985) shows how Sudan’s shift to
export-crop production in the 1970s intensified environmental degradation and
undermined national food security. Kjekshus (1977) Vail (1977) and McCracken (1987)
offer contrasting perspectives on the impact of colonialism and capitalism on peoples and
environments in East Africa. Garcia (1981), Horowitz and Little (1987) Wijkman and
Timberlake (1984), Timberlake (1988) and Cliffe and Moorsom (1979), amongst others,
also explore the relationship between capitalism and environmental change in Africa.
In recent years, area studies have been complemented by research relating transnational
corporations (TNCs) to environmental change. Pearson (1985) and Leonard (1988)
examine the interaction between TNCs, Third-World governments, and people and
environments. Combining thematic and case-study approaches, Pearson (1987) explores
this interaction at greater length. Pintz (1987) and Gillis (1987) for example, study TNC
operations in Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, while Gladwin (1987) offers a general
reviewpaper.
Of particular interest is research linking global agribusiness with biotechnology.
Although biotechnology’s ‘epoch-making’ role should not be exaggerated (Buttel, 1989)
the ability to manipulate genetically plants and animals represents a potent means by
which TNCs can effect environmental change. Kloppenburg (1988), for instance, notes
how herbicide-resistant crops could increase herbicide use, thereby accelerating social
and ecological degradation. As Bull (1982) observes, such degradation is already pervasive.
Moreover, as Butte1 (1990) notes, a growing demand for feedstock materials by First-World
18 Political ecology

biotechnology industry might increase the burden on already threatened Third-World

ecosystems. Goodman et al. (1987), George (1985), Franke and Chasin (1980), Dinham
and Hines (1983), Kenney and Butte1 (1985) and Redclift (1987) explore other aspects of
this important relationship.
While the preceding review has documented the extensive, albeit uneven, literature on
the contextual sources of environmental change, it remains to explore analytically the
themes that have been raised. Addressing state policies, interstate relations, and global
capitalism, in this manner, will help to clarify the nature of the framework’s first area of
inquiry.
State policies play a pivotal role in contemporary human-environmental interaction. As
well as suggesting the priorities and practices of the state, such policies help to structure
social discourse about environmental change, and are crucial to a broader understanding
of the politics of such change. Thus, their origins, content, implementation and impact
requireanalysis.
State policies are not developed in a political and economic vacuum. Rather, they result
from struggle between competing actors seeking to influence policy formulation. Given
that sundry policies have environmental implications, the number of actors involved can
be great, including government departments and agencies, national and transnational
corporations, non-governmental organizations, multilateral agencies and foreign govern-
ments. The challenge is to identify the different and often conflicting pressures on
policy-makers in order to understand a particular policy outcome. How previous policy
choices contributed to environmental change, and how such change in turn affected the
decision-making process, must also be explored.
Research could then address all relevant policy content. The complexities of such
research are as formidable as the diverse and often contradictory objectives of state policy
itself. If the state is ‘a theatre in which resources, property rights, and authority are
struggled over’ (Watts, 1989: 4), then state policies embody that struggle, often facilitating
the interests of powerful economic elites, and inculcating both social unrest and ecological
degradation. State policies, however, also promote non-economic objectives, and, as Hecht
and Cockburn (1989) and Budiardjo (1986) note, national security questions impinge on
the policy process. More prosaically, state policies may simply reflect a desire on the part
of political elites to assert control over individuals and groups. From this perspective,
economically disastrous policies and projects may serve other, unstated ends-for
example, serving as ‘a rural manifestation of the states’ active presence’ (Hart in Adams,
1990a: 157).l”
State policies, then, are an embodiment of societal divisions and struggle and the
narrower interests of the state itself. Such policies, however, cannot be understood in
isolation. Not only do policies embody conflicting aims and objectives, but their fate may
concurrently be linked with those of other policies removed from the environmental
arena. Forest policies, for example, may attempt to reconcile an interest in conservation
with pressures for commercial and non-commercial use, within a broader context where
tax, trade and industrial policies often prejudice the outcome (Gillis and Repetto, 1988).
Since many Third-World states lack the requisite coordinating mechanisms, policy
fragmentation compounds the research problem. How do diverse groups in state and
society fare under such conditions? What role do organizations like the World Bank and
the International Monetary Fund play in this process (Le Prestre, 1989)? Such questions
highlight the importance of process as well as content in policy analysis.
Attention could then be directed towards exploration of policy implementation. A
policy’s impact may well derive more from the manner in which it has been implemented
 KWMONL~ L. BRYANT 19

than from its content, thereby highlighting the important role of local officials. Does policy
interpretation balance local expectations with official views? Are officials subject to
pressure from local elites, transnational corporations or peasant organizations? What role
does corruption play in policy implementation? To what extent are standardized
bureaucratic procedures attempts to minimize policy ‘leakage’? As Bunker (1982, 198513)
notes, however, the application of such procedures to socio-economically and ecologically
underdeveloped regions may in itself be problematic. How successful, then, are
bureaucratic structures in controlling the many location-specific policy expressions? These
questions highlight the importance of the implementation stage, local officials, and the
bureaucratic structures within which they operate.
Finally, the environmental impact of state policy should also be addressed. Does the
nature and extent of environmental change vary according to whether policy is
implemented directly by the state, or indirectly, through other social groups? Can policy
have an ‘environmental multiplier effect’, accelerating certain processes of human-
environmental interaction at the expense of others? How do different political, economic
and ecological settings influence policy impact?
While discussion has focused on the role of state policies in shaping environmental
change, states do not formulate policies in isolation from each other. As Skocpol(I985: 8)
observes, ‘the modern state has always been part of a system of competing and
mutually involved states’. Thus, conflict and competition between states has long
contributed to environmental modification. And yet, as the review highlighted, research in
this area is underdeveloped. How might the interstate dimensions of environmental
change best be approached? A useful beginning would be to distinguish between its
peaceful and violent variants, as they impinge on land, water and forest conditions,
As the literature highlights, violence between states often contributes to environmental
change. In exploring this relationship at greater depth, it was suggested that scholars need
to devote increased attention to the national and regional dimensions of such violence,
Recent international developments reinforce this point, as--East-West rapprochement
notwithstanding-the diffusion of military hardware, including nuclear weapons, to the
Third World, continues. Gill and Law (1988: 370) note that East-West rapprochement may
in fact encourage this trend; in the context of substantial reductions in domestic military
expenditures, the superpowers may attempt ‘to maintain their economies of scale in
certain types of military production’. How would this greater availability of armaments
alter the kind, extent and intensity of Third-World interstate violence and environmental
change?
The peaceful interaction between states is also laden with environmental implications,
Such interaction may accelerate development of non-state sources of environmental
change-global capitalism, for example. As the discussion of international aid and
watershed management highlighted, however, peaceful relations between states
contribute directly to environmental change. In the process, the costs and benefits of such
change may be inequitably distributed between states. Thus, does the political dependence
of one state on another translate into increased environmental degradation? Conversely,
may a politically ascendant state avoid such degradation by ‘exporting’ it to client states? Do
power imbalances among states arise, in part, from differential control over environmental
resources? Can disadvantaged states use internal processes of environmental change-tro-
pical deforestation, for example-to strengthen their position vz~&~zj- other states? In
recent years, concepts such as ‘debt-for-nature’ swap, and ‘global bargain’ have entered the
international political vocabulary.” Motivated by a perceived ‘crisis of the commons’,
First-World states have begun to consider making economic concessions to ensure
20 Political ecology

Third-World environmental conservation. To what extent such concessions would offset

long-standing power imbalances between ‘developed’ and ‘developing’ countries remains
uncertain.
Both interstate and state sources of environmental change, however, must be situated in
a broader context that embraces the role of global capitalism. As increasingly embodied in
the transnational corporation (TNC),‘” global capitalism is a powerful source of
environmental change. Seeking profit maximization, corporate growth and market control,
TNCs have contributed to virtually every form of environmental change. Such
corporations, however, affect the environment differently. An examination of the link
between global capitalism and environmental change, then, might begin with an analysis of
the individual firm, move to the broader economic context and conclude with an
assessment of the general socio-political milieu within which TNCs operate.
The relationship between the individual firm and environmental change raises a variety
of issues (Pearson, 1987). How does the structure and organization of a transnational firm
affect its role and performance as an environmental manager? Does the degree of
corporate centralization or decentralization influence its environmental record? How may
a corporation’s size, history, country of origin and operational distribution affect its
environmental actions?
A TNC is not a monolithic entity and, as with other social organizations, its conduct
reflects the interaction between numerous individuals and groups. Consequently, there
is a need to ‘unpack’ the corporation, exploring the attitudes and practices of its
employees. In particular, attention should be directed toward individuals at the
environmental ‘interface’, responsible for implementing corporate policy. How important
are the opinions of local managers, for example, in the implementation of a firm’s
environmental policies and practices? Is the corporation’s local reputation considered
significant?
In understanding this link between TNCs and the environment, attention must also be
directed to the socio-political and economic factors impinging upon an individual firm’s
actions. What characterizes the industry within which a TNC operates? Do small and large
firms co-exist or do technological and financial barriers encourage oligopolistic
conditions? If such conditions prevail, what are the implications for TNC-environmental
interaction? Conversely, how does competition affect a firm’s environmental practices? As
they do business in diverse national settings, the possibility that firms will face a
combination of these conditions should also be considered.
Such characteristics indicate the multifarious ways in which TNCs differ in their
operations and, hence, in their environmental relationships, TNCs are not independent of
the societies in which they operate, though, and in understanding how firms contribute to
environmental change, it is also important to understand the socio-political context of their
activities, in both the ‘host’ and ‘home’ countries.
In this sense, the relationship between TNCs and the state is particularly significant. In
Third-World ‘host’ countries, are state policies based on economic nationalism? If so, how
may such policies affect TNCs and their environmental practices? Moreover, although they
will clearly vary between countries, what factors affect bargaining power between host
states and TNCs?
In recent years, however, a conservative revolution in the international community has
reversed policies of economic nationalism. Burdened with debts they are often unable to
repay, many countries adopted structural adjustment policies favouring private-sector
export activities (George, 1988; Watts, 1990). Do such policies constitute a carte bkanche
for TNCs in their use and misuse of the environment? Or, by contrast, has a growing
 R~xwxm L. BRYANT 21

concern about ecological degradation in many parts of the Third World fostered a policy
milieu conducive to more stringent environmental regulation?
TNCs must also be sensitive to the socio-political conditions in their ‘home’ countries.
Typically located in the First World, home countries-and more particularly their
states-may also influence how TNCs affect Third-World environments. As in the Third
World, however, governments have shown less interest in regulating TNC practices. Thus,
to what extent have pro-business governments in the First World relaxed supervision of
TNCs? Moreover, how has a more competitive global business environment, and the
growing power of Japan and the newly industrializing countries, affected home
supervision? Conversely, what are the implications of the re-emergence of environmental
concerns (global warming, ozone depletion, etc.) on national and international political
agendas for relations between the home state and TNCs?
If attention so far has centred on the TNC-environmental relationship, a comparable set
of questions could inform analyses of national corporations and Third-World
environmental change. The differing constraints and opportunities facing national, as
opposed to transnational, corporations, must be addressed. Do national corporations have
greater freedom to manipulate the environment, while technologically more advanced
TNCs are expected to meet more exacting standards? Further, the ability of TNCs to move
into and out of a country may confer certain advantages not enjoyed by national
corporations. How, then, does mobility affect a corporation’s interaction with state, society
and environment?
These questions underscore the complex links between global capitalism and
Third-World environmental change. While transnational and national corporations play a
critical role in environmental transformation, the multifarious nature of that role must not
be forgotten. Moreover, this role must not only be understood in relation to other
contextual sources (state policies, interstate relations), but also the location-specific
dimensions of environmental change. Research addressing conflict over access, the
frameworks second area of inquiry, may further such understanding.

Conflict over access

Research into questions of conflict over access examines the relationship between access
rights, local struggle and ecological transformation (Peluso, 1988; Hirsch, 1990). Thus, the
second element in the framework is concerned with the constraints and opportunities
facing peasants and other socially disadvantaged groups in struggles to protect the
environmental foundations of their livelihood. Specifically, in seeking to understand
conflict over access, both the historical and contemporary dynamics of struggle must be
addressed.
While much of the literature on conflict over access focuses on contemporary debates, a
number of scholars have adopted an historical perspective. To illustrate elements of
continuity and change in local struggle, several studies compare and contrast the colonial
and post-colonial experiences. Peluso (1988), Watts (1983b), Guha (1989a), Guha and
Gadgil (1989) and Nadkarni (1989) do so in the Javanese, Nigerian and Indian settings.
Peters (1984) and Worby (1988) examine the struggle for land and water rights in
Botswana. In different socio-political and ecological settings, these studies nevertheless
pinpoint the major transformation wrought by colonial rule, and the bitter legacy of
state-peasant antagonism over control of environmental resources that, even today, shows
few signs of dissipating.
For the post-colonial era, the nature of state-peasant and other types of conflict over
22 Political ecology

access has been extensively reviewed. Work by Shiva (1987), Agarwal and Narain (1985),
Fernandes (1990) Jodha (1986) Lohmann (1990) Leonard (1985), Thomson (1985) and
Schmink (1982) illustrates the breadth of issues addressed. The following review, then,
highlights only selected themes.
Conflict pitting peasants against state or economic elites not only involves questions of
‘land’, but may embrace the struggle over flora and fauna (Peluso, 1988; MacKenzie, 1988;
Dogra, 1985; Saldanha, 1990) soil conditions (Hirsch and Lohmann, 1989) and water
supplies (Peters, 1984). More work, however, needs to consider the roles that these and
other environmental resources play in the livelihoods of the rural poor (Chambers and
Leach, 1989; Hecht et al., 1988). Concomitantly, there is a need for greater knowledge of
how such groups interpret these roles (Chambers, 1983; Richards, 1985; Blauert, 1988).
The complexity of conflict over access is partially attributable to tenurial systems and
social institutions regulating access, control and use of environmental resources. Recent
work on the sociology of access in Africa is illustrative. As pertaining to an understanding
of broader agricultural and ecological issues, Okoth-Ogendo (1989), Blaikie (1989a) and
Berry (1989b) offer contrasting perspectives on resource access and use. Mackenzie (1986,
1989) Haugerud (1989), Carney and Watts (1990), Becker (1990) and Davison (1987),
provide empirical case-studies examining many of the ideas developed in these papers. In
this research, complexity of access is emphasized; multiple and overlapping rights
combine with formal and informal tenure to produce a complex web of dependencies.
Similarly, as Peters (1984) and Berry (1988) point out, struggle is equally complex. Given
the importance of social identity, for example, in the determination of access rights,
‘struggles over meaning are as much a part of the process of resource allocation as are
struggles over surplus or the labor process’ (Berry, 1988: 66). As Berry (1988) and
Haugerud (1989) emphasize, this complexity has important implications for both public
and private efforts to regulate land use.
The role of women in conflict over access is crucial, and yet, has typically been
neglected. Only recently has gender begun to receive systematic attention. Shiva (1987,
1988) B. Agarwal(1988a, 1988b, 1989), Mies (1984), Jain (1984) and A. Agarwal(1988), for
example, consider the role of Indian women in struggles to retain access to land, water and
forest resources, B. Agarwal (1990) analyses the relationship between such struggles and
individual/family security in the face of seasonal@ and calamity. In the Kenyan context,
Davison (1987) Mackenzie (1986,1989) and Maathai (1986) examine questions of tenure,
ecological change and women’s politicization. Similarly, Dankelman and Davidson (1988)
and Carney and Watts (1990) explore aspects of women’s struggle. Focused on
gender-derived inequalities, this research views household relations as a ‘deeply contested
terrain’ (Watts, 1989: 12) in which access to environmental resources remains a bitter
source of conflict.13
As illustrated, conflict over access to environmental resources is a powerful source of
social division. Apart from the household, however, conflict between socially
disadvantaged and ‘contextual’ groups is also significant. Embracing ‘peasant’ relations
with political and economic elites, this conflict may be formalized with the development of
environmental movements. As discussed below, environmental movements are an
important strategy for the poor attempting to preserve the environmental foundations of
their livelihood.
The preceding review highlights the complexities of conflict over access, as well as
literature only beginning to recognize that complexity. Analytically, however, the
frameworks second area of inquiry may best be approached by pursuing themes in the
historical and contemporary dynamics of conflict.
 Rmmm L. BRYWT 23

Adopting an historical perspective serves as a useful reminder that conflict over access is
intrinsic to human development. Shaped by diverse political, social and ecological factors,
it has been expressed in innumerable location-specific ways. As such, the struggle for
access did not originate with capitalism and colonialism-the latter being simply the most
recent in a recurring motif of human struggle over the environment.‘*
And yet, the advent of colonialism and capitalism marks a qualitative change in the
history of Third-World struggle. Whereas pre-colonial conflict over access was tempered
by decentralized power relations, and by a relatively low level of technological
development, colonial and post-colonial struggle has faced few such constraints. How has
this transformation of political, economic and technological capabilities affected traditional
conflict patterns? To what extent have new patterns emerged, or traditional practices been
invoked?
An appreciation of the historical dimensions of conflict over access is essential to an
understanding of contemporary struggle. Inherently location-specific, such conflict
nevertheless brings together national and international, as well as local actors, and
embodies the struggle between diverse political, social and economic interests. The
management of such competing interests is an integral research theme.
In understanding the contemporary dynamics of conflict, however, a spatial distinction
should be drawn between actors at or near the conflict site, and those elsewhere-at
regional, national or international centres. How may this pattern influence the nature and
outcome of struggle, and be reflected in coalitions amongst actors? How are coalitions
constructed? What impact does the spatial fragmentation of ‘contextual’ actors, the state
and TNCs, have on location-specific conflict?
Spatially differentiated, actors also differ in their access to strategic resources. TNCs and
the state, for example, typically possess greater informational and technological resources
than local villagers. How these contextual actors deploy such resources in location-specific
struggles is among the more crucial research questions. To what extent may imbalances in
technological and informational capability affect the outcome? Is superiority in strategic
resources offset by other, perhaps intangible factors? In the Malaysian context, for instance,
Scott (1985) has shown that the ‘weapons of the weak’ are not inconsequential in the
conflict over access. When combined with overt resistance, the tenacity and desperation of
those faced with the loss of critical environmental resources may, to some extent,
counteract the forces of the powerful (Anderson and Huber, 1988; and below).
Kecognizing the spatial, technological and informational differentiation between actors
is but a preliminary step towards understanding the contemporary dynamics of conflict
over access. Although helpful, details of differentiation and conflict-prerequisites for a
more comprehensive treatment of access conflict-are not considered. A more adequate
inquiry, then, must deconstruct commonly used terms that typically conceal more than
they reveal (‘peasant’, ‘state’, ‘TNC’) in order to expose the complex reality embedded in
them.
An examination of the specifics, rather than generalities, of conflict over access, brings
into question widely-held beliefs about Third-World human-environmental interaction.
Conflict between poor villagers dependent for their well-being on local land, water and
forest resources, and various powerful coalitions attempting to deprive them of access to
those resources, recurs in the literature. And yet, this dichotomy masks a web of complex
power-relations (Hirsch, 1990; Bernstein, 1990). To what extent, for example, are villagers
an undifferentiated mass, united in their destitution? Are they not also caught up in
differentiated relations with the powerful and with each other, and does this not translate
into differing interests and objectives in conflict over access? In this sense, the role of
24 Political ecology

women merits particular scrutiny. In the household, how do gender-based, and often
unequal divisions of labour contribute to the complexities of social struggle for land, water
and forests? Comparable questions may be asked about contextual actors. Do political and
economic elites act unanimously? Is state unity jeopardized by divergent personal and
bureaucratic interests, and do TNCs and the state always concur?
Not only do these questions highlight the complexities of conflict over access, they also
indicate the difficulties associated with its management. Although the state plays a central
role in conflict management, its role is circumscribed by at least two factors. First, the state
is not an impartial observer in such struggles-indeed, it is often a leading participant.15
Secondly, the state is often riven by conflicting interests.
Given these circumstances, what roles do other actors play in conflict management? To
what extent do intimidation, coercion, avoidance behaviour, organized protest, theft and
bribery regulate the struggle for access? Moreover, how should TNC efforts to cultivate
local goodwill be interpreted? Research needs to be sensitive to the complexities of
conflict, the multifarious ways in which such conflict is managed, and ultimately, the
political ramifications of environmental change.

Political ramifications of environmental change

Research into the political ramifications of environmental change, the frameworks third
area of inquiry, explores the ways that environmental change influences socio-economic
inequalities, and by extension, political processes. Thus, it acknowledges an often
overlooked dimension, Just as political forces contribute to environmental change, the
modification of land, water and forests has important political ramifications. To appreciate
better those ramifications, however, attention needs to be directed to socio-economic
impact and political process.
The diverse literature on political ramifications has been guided by two basic questions.
First, to what extent are the costs of environmental change borne by socially-disadvantaged
groups, and how does this unequal distribution of costs mediate existing socio-economic
inequalities? And secondly, under what circumstances does unequal exposure to
environmental change modify political processes?
In the literature, questions of socio-economic impact recur, and have been addressed
differently. Blaikie (1985) notes that soil erosion adversely affects both small rural
producers and the urban poor. Thomson (1985) explores how desertification in Niger
reinforces inequalities among the Tuareg, and Zaman (1989) examines how riverbank
erosion in the Brahmaputra-Jamuna floodplain of Bangladesh strengthens the
dependency of landless peasants and displacees on rural elites. Agarwal and Narain (1985)
and A. Agarwal (1988) survey the effects of ecological degradation on India’s poor.
Amongst many others, Hecht and Cockburn (1989), Ramos (1984) Bunker (1985a), He&t
et al. (1988) and Cummings (1990) highlight the impact of resource extraction in the
Amazon on the area’s socially-disadvantaged groups.
Not surprisingly, this literature emphasizes the poor’s particular vulnerability to
ecological degradation: soil erosion, desertification and deforestation. But they are also
threatened by changes which, superficially, might be considered environmentally
beneficial. Commercial tree plantations are a case in point. Lohmann (1990), Hirsch and
Lohmann (1989), B. Agarwal(1988a) and Agarwal and Narain (1985), for example, observe
how eucalyptus plantations in Thailand and India may eliminate opportunities for grazing
and collection of minor forest produce, even jeopardizing local soil and water regimes. As
A, Agarwal (1988) notes, even planting eucalyptus on ‘barren’ lands implicates the poor,
who may require the ‘weeds’ on such lands for fuel.
 KAmtoxn L. BRYANT 25

The literature addressing political ramifications of environmental change underscores

the serious plight of those who are socially and ecologically disadvantaged. For some, the
lesson seems clear: ‘poverty and environmental degradation form a trap from which there
is little chance of escape’ (Adams, 1990a: 87). And yet, paradoxically, environmental
degradation may also assist the poor. As Chambers (1987) notes, degraded land of low
monetary value may yet provide ‘sustainable livelihoods’, particularly when combined with
non-agricultural income (Blaikie, 1988a). Although it must not be exaggerated, adaptation
to changing circumstances, impelled by the sheer quest for survival, should not be
summarily dismissed (Mortimore, 1989). The resilience of the land, and the poor drawing
sustenance from it, cannot be underestimated, nor the political obituary of the
Third-World peasantry read (Hall, 1989; Browder, 1989; Richards, 1990).
In examining the political ramifications of environmental change, moreover, the
willingness and ability of the poor to contest their plight should not be forgotten. Research
on peasant protest often emphasizes the clandestine nature of such resistance (Scott,
1985) and evidence of this covert activity appears in several sources discussed herein.
Guha (1989a, 1989b), Peluso (1988) and Hafner and Apichatvullop (1990) cite arson and
theft as examples of everyday resistance, but as Scott (1985:29-30) observes, these
‘weapons of the weak’ should not be exaggerated: ‘they are unlikely to do more than
marginally affect the various forms of exploitation that peasants confront’.
It is hardly surprising that peasants faced with a threat to the environmental foundations
of their livelihoods, have often resorted to overt collective resistance. As Guha (1989a,
1989b) shows, such resistance is not new. Nevertheless, it is only over the last two decades
that Third-World environmental movements have gained momentum.
A number of scholars have examined the emergence of environmental movements in
Africa, Latin America and Asia. Although these groups differ, important similarities exist
between them. As Redclift (1987: 159) notes, environmental movements in the South must
be differentiated from their Northern equivalents:

The two principal components of environmental movements in the South are of

marginal importance to most movements in the developed countries. They are
that those who constitute the ‘movement’ are engaged in a livelihood struggle
and, secondly, that they recognize that this livelihood struggle can be successful
only if the environment is managed in a sustainable way.

These ‘livelihood struggles’, then, have been the focus of much attention. Redclift (1987)
provides a useful introduction to Third-World environmental movements. In the Indian
setting, Agarwal and Narain (1985) and Omvedt (1989) survey the plethora of movements
that have emerged. In particular, Shiva (1987) Shiva and Bandyopadhyay (1988), Weber
(1987), Bahuguna (1985) and Guha (1989a) outline the development of India’s renowned
Chipko movement, Hirsch and Lohmann (1989) and Lohmann (1990) study various
movements launched by Thai people to contest eucalyptus plantations and hydro-electric
dams. Maathai (1986) traces the evolution of Kenya’s Green Belt Movement. Redclift (1987)
examines Mexican environmental movements, while Hecht and Cockburn (1989) and
Schwartzman (1989) discuss the rubber-tappers’ movement in the Brazilian Amazon.
Much of this research focuses on the livelihood struggles of ethnically-dominant, albeit
economically-subordinate, groups. But what of ethnic minorities and attendant forms of
protest? The link between ethnic&y, ecological change and political protest awaits
adequate exploration. Several studies, however, suggest the research possibilities. Hong
(1987) provides a detailed study of deforestation and indigenous protest in Sarawak.
Drucker (1985), Porter (1990) and Hurst (1990) also explore ethnic-minority resistance in
26 Political ecology

Southeast Asia. Hecht and Cockburn (1989) and Cummings (1990) briefly document the
genesis of Indian struggles in the Amazon. Blauert (1988) discusses emerging
autochthonous resistance in southern Mexico, and Anderson and Huber (1988) offer a
case-study of similar protest in central India.
The preceding review of work on the political ramifications of environmental change
emphasizes that such change not only exacerbates socio-economic inequalities, but also
serves as a catalyst for political protest, notably as manifested in environmental
movements. In analysing this third element in the framework, therefore, there is a need to
differentiate between socio-economic impact and political process.
An appreciation of the political ramifications of environmental change typically
necessitates location-specific understanding. As Blaikie (1985) Blaikie and Brookfield
(1987a) and others have noted, such understanding must be sensitive to the physical and
biological processes specific to a given locale. For the purposes of this paper, however,
development of a location-specific and technical approach is unnecessary.r6 In exploring
the political dimensions of environmental change, a more general schema is appropriate.
Thus, in referring to environmental change, a broad distinction is made between episodic
and everyday” changes. Episodic change includes flooding, drought and similar disasters,
while the everyday embraces soil erosion, salinization, deforestation and various types of
pollution. Although these two forms of environmental change may be interrelated, this
interrelationship remains open to debate (Hamilton and Pearce, 1988; Messerli, 1990).
Everyday forms of environmental change are, as their name would suggest, temporally
and spatially ubiquitous, having a gradual and cumulative impact on human communities
which may long go unrecognized (Blaikie, 1985). When such change is recognized, it may
then mingle with human interests, yielding competing perceptions and definitions (Blaikie
and Brookfield, 1987b). The complexities of everyday forms of environmental change,
however, should not obscure their differentiated socio-economic impact.
In addressing that impact, research should be sensitive to the social and ecological
marginality of the poor (Blaikie and Brookfield, 1987b). How do land managers, for
example, become spatially and economically marginalized? How does such marginal-
ization relate to ecological marginality-that is, lands of low and/or erratic capability?
Moreover, how do these forms of marginality interact to produce ‘socio-ecocide’-or a
downward spiral of human and environmental degradation? Most importantly, how can
individuals and groups caught in this trap organize resistance?
Everyday forms of environmental change must also be related to episodic forms of
change-the droughts, floods and other disasters that periodically threaten human
existence. Although episodic change occurs independently of human design, its impact on
social communities is by no means exclusively or even predominantly ‘natural’ (Watts,
1983a; Susman et al., 1983). Processes of social and ecological marginalization noted above
with respect to everyday change are also crucial to an understanding of the impact of
episodic change. Marginalization typically increases the vulnerability of the poor to
episodic change, breaking down previous defence mechanisms against ecological stress
(Shenton and Watts, 1979; Watts, 1984). As the recent history of famine in Africa attests, the
interplay between processes of marginalization, and everyday and episodic forms of
environmental change can have tragic human consequences.
As illustrated in the discussion of socio-economic impact, the unequal exposure of
groups and individuals to environmental change is imbued with political significance.
Environmental change may not only reflect existing inequalities, but it may also insidiously
reinforce them in the long-term. As Durning (1990: 135) says ‘poverty’s profile has
become increasingly environmental’.
 RAYMONI~
L. BRYAKT 27

Unequal exposure to environmental change may also modify political processes-and

yet, this relationship is not self-evident. Even if political change occurs, it cannot be
assumed that such change is designed to reverse ecological degradation or to assist those
individuals and groups adversely affected by such degradation. Thus, just as
socio-economic impact resonates with ambiguity, so too does its political outcome.
To yield a clearer picture of how environmental change affects and is absorbed into
political processes, the network of power relations must be understood. In the face of
environmental crises, do such relations facilitate or block social mobilization? Put
differently, are power relationships reinforced by environmental change? And if so, how
are they reinforced? What opportunities do oppressed groups have for protest and
resistance?
As the literature specifies, the socially-disadvantaged in many parts of the Third World
are increasingly turning to overt strategies of collective resistance and, as manifested in
environmental movements, such strategies represent a potentially potent challenge to
local, national and even international political processes. How successful is such resistance
in overcoming political and economic power configurations disposed to perpetuating the
status quo? Further, how do political and economic elites attempt to defuse protest,
emasculate resistance, and reaffirm extant power relations (Cummings, 1990)? Are
Third-World environmental movements, often coalitions of diverse and potentially
contradictory interests, vulnerable to subversion by such elites? How may such movements
guard against internal divisions? As Guha (1989a), Weber (1987) and B. Agarwal (1988a)
illustrate, environmental movements like the Chipko movement may be differentiated
according to philosophy, gender and resistance strategies. Ironically, the location-specific
focus of environmental movements weakens, and may ultimately limit, their ability to
re-define prevailing power structures.‘*
These issues are central to an understanding of the political ramifications of
environmental change. By critically focusing on the relationship between environmental
change, socio-economic impact and political process, such research addresses often
neglected issues. It rejects facile assumptions about environmental change and human
welfare-for example, that ecological degradation is a universal evil befalling rich and
poor alike. Rather, it explores how such change is incorporated into concrete political and
economic relationships, and the ways that it may then be used to reinforce or challenge
those relationships. As such, research into the political ramifications of environmental
change constitutes an integral part-along with analyses of conflict over access and the
contextual sources of environmental change-of a more general inquiry into the politics
of environmental change.

Synopsis and implications

This paper offers a preliminary exploration of Third-World political ecology and, to this
end, a framework comprising three areas of inquiry has been developed. Although related,
the contextual sources of environmental change, conflict over access, and the political
ramifications of environmental change, were disaggregated in order to appreciate the
specific processes involved. In each case, the relevant literamre was reviewed, and the
central analytical issues examined. It should be reiterated, however, that neither the review
nor the analytical components purports to be comprehensive.
As embodied in this paper’s framework, the agenda for Third-World political ecology is
both complex and challenging, requiring analytical refinement as well as empirical
exploration. How may such work be encouraged? A first step must recognize that
28 Political ecology

Third-World political ecology does indeed constitute an emerging research agenda. Such
recognition, however, is hindered by low levels of awareness. Divided by disciplinary and
institutional affiliations, many scholars have been further isolated by the empirical and
policy-oriented bent of the research community. Where scholarly exchange has occurred,
it has tended to remain regionally based, with comprehensive Third-World exchange more
the exception than the rule (e.g. Little and Horowitz, 1987; Repetto and Gillis, 1988). A
growing sense of community, sustained by knowledge of a common research agenda,
might remove some obstacles to cooperation, and set the stage for a more intensive phase
in the development of Third-World political ecology.
As this agenda emerges, new issues will need to be addressed-the role of ideology and
culture in environmental change seems particularly important.‘” How the environment
and environmental change are perceived, and related to different aspects of human
development, influences the nature and extent of such change. Correspondingly, however,
these factors need to be integrated with the contextual and location-specific forces
discussed above.

Ideas are never ‘innocent’. Mental conceptions, including belief systems,

morality, philosophy, and law, either reinforce or challenge existing social and
economic arrangements. And they do so actively, as biased participants in
sociopolitical intercourse (Schmink and Wood, 1987: 51).

In exploring these and other issues, political ecology must be situated in the broader
context of Third-World studies. Such integration will benefit the latter (Hettne, 1990),
while promoting more rigorous development of the former. Third-World political ecology
might be enriched by recent work in contiguous and often overlapping research agendas:
peasant studies and power analysis (Scott, 1985; Colburn, 1989; Hart et al., 1989);
household and gender studies (Watts, 1989; Whitehead, 1990); and the literature on the
politics of hunting and conservation (Beinart, 1989, 1990). As these agendas are refined,
their findings and implications need to be systematically incorporated into Third-World
political ecology, with particular reference to conflict over access and the political
ramifications of environmental change.
A more systematic definition of the research agenda is thus urgently required. Emerging
at a time of intense environmental change, Third-World political ecology attempts to
integrate environmental and political analysis to illustrate how these two activities, both
helping to shape human destiny, are interrelated, and more importantly, how the one
cannot be fully understood without the other. It is in the recognition and analysis of this
interdependence that Third-World political ecology could make its most crucial
contribution.

Acknowledgements
I am grateful to the editor, and three anonymous referees for their helpful comments. I also wish to
thank Mr. P. Stott and Professor R. H. Taylor for their constructive criticism, and the Overseas
Research Students Awards Scheme for their support of my research programme. Finally, special
appreciation to MS Shelagh J. Squire for her understanding and editorial assistance.

Notes
1. The term ‘Third World’ (as differentiated from ‘First World’) is used synonymously with
‘North-South’. In this instance, it refers to the developing countries of Asia, Africa and Latin
America.
 R.4y~orm L. BRYANT 29

2. For example, see Blaikie and Brookfield (1987a), Little and Horowitz (1987) Redclift (1984,
1987) and Repetto and Gillis (1988).
3. See also Marston (1983) and Falkus (1990). Of general interest are Johnston (1989) Dryzek
(1987), Benton (1989) and Corbridge (1986).
4. Emel and Peet (1989) and Adams (1990a) critically examine several major works, notably Watts
(1983b) and Blaikie (1985).
5. See Richards (1983) and Blaikie (1989a).
6. For example, local resistance to dam construction in Thailand (Hirsch and Lohmann, 1989); and
other instances cited below.
7. See Blaikie (1985) on the integration of ‘place’- and ‘non-place’-based analyses.
8. A particularly vociferous critic of these agencies is ne Ecologist magazine (e.g. Rich, 1985). For a
mainstream critique, see Kasten Jr. (1986). Schneider (1989) also explores this subject.
9. Interstate antipathies may even derive from conflict over environmental resources; see Westing
(1986) and Mandel (1988).
10. See Adams (199Ob) and Fox (1988) on bureaucratic centralization and control in Kenya.
Evidently, such centralization and control varies between countries and regions.
11. Brown (1990), Ravenhill (1990), World Commission on Environment and Development (1987),
Angel1 et al. (1990); as environmental crises demonstrate, the growing need for international
action, equity, efficiency and sustainability are becoming increasingly intertwined, see Tolba
(1987).
12. Such is the contemporary power of TNCs that Gill and Law (1988) speak of an emerging
‘transnational stage’ in capitalist development.
13. See also Guyer and Peters (1987) and Whitehead (1990).
14. Allen and Crittenden (1987); Clarke (1990).
15. Dove (1986) and Blauert (1988) illustrate how state and local perceptions of development may
diverge.
16. For an introduction to environmental systems, see Johnston (1989).
17. This term refers to routine environmental change, and modifies Scott’s (1985) notion of peasant
resistance.
18. This weakness may be offset by linkages with international environmental groups (e.g.
Greenpeace), and with First-World non-governmental organizations sensitive to environmental
questions (Conroy and Litvinoff, 1988). On the growing importance of these groups in
international environmental diplomacy, see Caldwell (1988).
19. Ideological expression is discussed in Schmink and Wood (1987), Blaikie (1985), Beinart (1984)
and MacKenzie (1988). Another issue is the ambiguous relationship between population growth
and environmental change (Blaikie and Brookfield, 1987~). See also Adams (1990a) and
Corbridge (1986).

References

ADAMS,
W. M. (1990~1).GreenDevelopment: Environment andSustainability in the Third World. London: Routledge.
ADAMS,W. M (1990b). How beautihtl is small? Scale, control and success in Kenyan irrigation. WorldDevelopment
l&1309-1323.
AGARWAL, A. (1988). Beyond pretty trees and tigers in India. In The Future of the Environment: TBe Social
Dimensions of Conservation and Ecological Alternatives (D. C. Pitt ed.) pp. 93-125. London: Routledge.
AGARWAL, A. ANDNARAIN,S , EDS(1985). The State of In&z’s Environment, 1984-85: The Second Citizens’ Report.
New Delhi: Centre for Science and Environment.
AGARWAL, B. (1988a). Neither sustenance nor sustainability: agricultural strategies, ecological degradation and
Indian women in poverty. In Structures of Patriarchy State, Communiry and Household in Modernising Asia
(B. Agatwal ed.) pp. 83-120. London: Zed Books.
Ao&w& B. (198813). Who sows? Who reaps? Women and land rights in India. Journal of Peasant Studies 15,
531-581.
ARCIARWAL,B. (1989). Rural women, poverty and natural resources: sustenance, sustainability and struggle for
change. Economic and Political Week& 24(43), 46-65.
30 Political ecology

AGARWK,B. (1990). Social security and the family: coping with seasonal@ and calamity in rural India. Journal of
Peasant Studies 17, 341-412.
AHMED,A. G. M. (1987). National ambivalence and external hegemony: the negligence of pastoral nomads in the
Sudan. In Agrarian Change in the Cenh-al Rainlam&: A Socio-economic Analysis (M. A Mohamed Salih ed.)
pp. 129-148. Uppsala: Scandinavian Institute of African Studies.
ALLEN,B. ANDCRITKENDEN, R. (1987). Degradation and a pre-capitalist political economy: the case of the New Guinea
highlands In Land Degrudation and Society (P. Blaikie and H. Brookfield eds) pp. 145-156. London:
Methuen.
AMBIO, ROYALSWEDISH ACADEMV OF SCIENCES (1983). Nuclear War: The Ajkwnatb. Oxford: Pergamon Press.
ANDERSON, A. B. (1990). Smokestacks in the rainforest: industrial development and deforestation in the Amazon
basin. World Development 18, 1191-1205.
ANDERSON, J. N. (1987). Lands at risk, people at risk: perspectives on tropical forest transformations in the
Philippines. In Lands at R&Jzin the TM-d WorM. Local-Level Perspectives (P, D. Little and M. M. Horowitz eds)
pp, 249-267. London: Westview Press.
ANDERSON, R. S. ANDHUBER,W. (1988). The Hour of the Fox: Tropical Forests, the World Bank, and Indigenous
People in Cemral In&z London: University of Washington Press.
ANGQL,D. J. R., COMER,J. D. ANDWILKINSON, M. L. N., EDS (1990). Su.staini?zg Earth: Response to the Environmental
Threat. London: Macmillan
BAHUGUNA, S. (1985). People’s response to ecological crises in the hill areas. In India’s Environmem: Crises and
Responses (J Bandyopadhyay, N. D. Jayal, U. Shoettli and C. Singh eds) pp. 217-226. New Delhi: Natraj
Publishers.
BASSETT, T. J. (1988). The political ecology of peasant-herder conflicts in the northern Ivory Coast. Annuls oftk
Association of American Geographer 78, 453-472.
BALITXSTA,G. M. (1990). The forestry crisis in the Philippines: nature, causes, and issues. TheDeveloping Economies
28, 67-94.
BECKER, L. C. (1990). The collapse of the family farm in West Africa? Evidence from Mali. GeograpbicaIJournal 156,
313-322.
BEINART, W. (1984). Soil erosion, conservationism and ideas about development: a Southern African exploration,
1900-1960. Journul of Southern AJ?ican Studies 11, 52-83.
BEINART, W. (1989). Introduction: the politics of colonial conservation. Journal of Southern AJ?ican Studies 15,
143-162.
BEINART. W. (1990). Empire, hunting and ecological change in Southern and Central Africa. Pust and Present 128,
162-186.
BENTON,T. (1989). Marxism and natural limits: an ecological critique and reconstruction. New Le@Review 178,
51-86.
BERNSTEIN, H. (1990). Taking the part of peasants? In The Food Question: Profits Vases People? (H. Bernstein, B.
Crow, M. Mackintosh and C. Martin eds) pp. 69-79. London: Earthscan
BERRY,S. (1988). Concentration without privatization? Some consequences of changing patterns of rural land
control in Africa. In Land and So&@ in Contanporay A&b (R. E. Downs and S. P. Reyna eds) pp. 53-75.
London: University of New Hampshire.
BERRY,S. (1989a). Access, control and use of resources in African agriculture: an introduction. @ica 59, l-5.
BERRY,S. (1989b). Social institutions and access to resources. @‘ica 59, 41-55.
BESHIR,M. O., ED. (1984). The Nile Valley Counti~: Continuiry and Change. Khartoum: University of Khartoum,
Institute of African and Asian Studies, Sudanese Library Series No. 12.
BWKIE, P. (1985). The Political Economy of Soil Erosion in Developing Countries. London: Longman
BLAIKIE,P. (1988a). The explanation of land degradation in Nepal. In Defoestution: Social L$namics in Watershedr
and Mountain Ecosystems 0. Ives and D. C. Pitt eds) pp. 132-158. London: Routledge.
BLAIKIE,P. (1988b). Environmental crises in developing countries: how much, for whom and by whom? An
introduction and overview. In Environmental Crises in Developing Countries (P. Blaikie and T. Unwin eds)
pp. l-6. London: Institute of British Geographers, Developing Areas Research Group, Monograph No. 5.
BLAME, P. (1989a). Environment and access to resources in Africa. Aj%z 59, X-40.
BLAME, P. (198913). Natural resource use. In A World in CriszY 2nd edn. (R. J. Johnston and P. J. Taylor eds)
pp. 125-150. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
BWKIE, P.AND BROOKFIELD,H., EDS (1987a). Land Degradation and Society. London: Methuen.
BLAME, P.AND BROOKFIFXD,H (1987b). Defining and debating the problem. In Land Degradation and Society (P.
Blaikie and H. Brookfield eds) pp. l-26. London: Methuen.
BLAKIE,P. ANDBROOKFIELD,H. (1987~). Approaches to the study of land degradation. In Land Degradation and
Society (P. Blaikie and H. Brookfield eds) pp. 27-48. London: Methuen.
 b>XOND L. BRYANT 31

BLALIERT, J. (1988). Autochthonous development and environmental knowledge in Oaxaca, Mexico. In

Ent,ironmentaI Crises in Da&ping Count&s (P. Blaikie and T. Unwin eds) pp. 33-54. London: Institute of
British Geographers, Developing Areas Research Group, Monograph NO. 5.
Bo+.oo, E. L (1988). Incentive policies and forest use in the Philippines. In Public Policies and the Misuse of Forest
Resources (R. Repetto and M. Gillis eds) pp. 165-203. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
BRANFOKD, S. ANDGLOCK,0. (1985) The lmt Frontier Fighting Ouer Land in the Amazon. London: Zed Books.
BKOWDER, J. 0. (1988a). The social costs of rain forest destruction: a critique and economic analysis of the
‘Hamburger Debate’. Intercienciu 13, 115-120.
BHOWDER,J. 0. (1988b). Public policy and deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. In Public Policies and the Misuse
of Forest Resources (R. Repetto and M. Gillis eds) pp. 247-297. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
BROWTIER, J. O., ED. (1989). Fragile Lands of Latin Amerka: Strategies for Surtainab1e Development. London:
Westview Press.
BROWN, J, W. (1990). US policy in the crucial decade ahead. In In the OS Interest: Resources, Growth, andSecutiQ in
the Developing World (J. W. Brown ed.) pp. 165-201. London. Westview Press.
Btlow~o, C. (1986). The politics of transmigration. Ecologist 16, 111-116.
Brnr , D (1982). A Growing Problem Pesticides and the Third-World Poor. Oxford: Oxfam.
BLINKER, S. G. (1980). The Impact of deforestation on peasant communities in the Medio Amazonas of Brazil. Studies
in Third-World Societies 13, 45-60.
BLINKER,S G (1982). The cost of modernity inappropriate bureaucracy, inequality, and development program
failure in the Brazilian Amazon. Journal of Developing Areas 16, 573-596.
BUNKER,S. G. (1984). Modes of extraction, unequal exchange, and the progressive underdevelopment of an
extreme periphery the Brazilian Amazon, 1600-1980. American Journal of Sociology 89, 1017-1064.
BLINKER, S. G. (1985a). Underakueloping the Amazon: Exh-action, Unequal Exchange, and the Failure of the
Modem State. Urbana: University of Illinois Press
BUNKER, S. G. (1985b). Misdirected expertise in an unknown environment: standard bureaucratic procedures as
inappropriate technology on the Brazilian ‘planned frontier’. In Change in the Amazon Basin, Volume II: The
Frontier after a Decade of Colonisation (J. Hemming ed ) pp 103-l 18. Manchester: Manchester IJniversity
Press.
Bum, F. H. (1989). How epoch-making are high technologies? The case of biotechnology. Sociological Forum 4,
247-261
Berm., F. H. (1990) Biotechnology and agricultural development in the Third World. In The FoodQuestion. Profits
Venxs People? (H. Bernstein, B. Crow, M. MaCkintOSh and C. Martm eds) pp. 163-180. London: Earthscan
CALDU~., L K. (1988). Beyond environmental diplomacy: the changing institutional structure of international
cooperation. In International Ensironmental Diplomacy: The Management and Resolution of Transj?ontier
Emironmental Prob1em.s u. E. Carroll ed.) pp. 13-27. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
C&N~Y.,J. ANDWATTS,M. (1990). Manufacturing dissent: work, gender and the politics of meaning in a peasant
society. AJ?ica 60, 207-241.
CHAMBER,R. (1983). Rural Detalopment. Putting the Last First. London: Longman
CHAMBERS, R. (1987). Sustainab1e Liuelibooh, Environment and Deuelopment. Putting Poor Rural People First.
Brighton: [Jniversity of Sussex, Institute of Development Studies, Discussion Paper, No. 240.
C~~BEILS, R. ANDLEACH,M (1989) Trees as savings and security for the rural poor World Development 17,
329-342
CLARKE,W. C. (1990). Learning from the past: traditional knowledge and sustainable development. Contewz&xzy,
Pa&c 2, 233-253.
CLIFF&L. ANI)MOORSOM,R. (1979). Rural class formanon and ecological collapse in Botswana. Review of Aj-imn
Politicul Economy 15116, 35-52.
COLHIIRN,F. D., EU. (1989). Ew@ay Forms of Peasant Resistance. London: M. E. Sharpe.
COLCHESIER, M. (1986) Banking on disaster: international support for transmigration. Ecologist 16, 61-70.
COLLINS,J. L. (1986). Smallholder settlement of tropical South America: the social causes of ecological destruction.
Human Organization 45, l-10.
COUINS,R. 0 (1990). 7he Waters of the Nile: Hydropolitics and the Jongiei Canal, 1900~1988. Oxford: Clarendon
Press
CONKOY,C. ANDLITXXVOFF, M., EDS (1988). The Greening of Aid Sustainable Livelihoods in Practice. London:
Earthscan
CORBRIXE, S. (1986). Capitalist World Ds~elopmat: A Critique of Radical Development Geograpb. London:
Macmillan.
CUMMINGS, B. J. (1990). Dam the Rives, Damn the People: Development and Resistance in Amazonian Brazil.
London. Earthscan.
DANKFLMAN, I. ANDDACXXON,J. (1988). Women and Enhwmwnt in the Third World: Alliance for the Future.
London: Earthscan.
 Political ecology

DAV(SON,J. (1987). ‘Without land we are nothing’: the effect of land-tenure policies and practices upon rural women
in Kenya. Rural AJkicana 27, 19-33.
DE~TSCH, K. W. (1977). Some problems and prospects of ecopolitical research. In Ecosocial Systems and
Ecopolitics, A Reader on Human and Social I?r@cations of Environmental Management in Developing
Countries (K. W. Deutsch ed.) pp. 359-368. Paris: UNESCO.
DINHAM,B. ANDHINES,C. (1983). qgribusines in AJ%a. London: Earth Resources Research.
Doom, B. (1985). The World Bank vs the people of Bastar. Ecologist 15, 44-48.
Dovr, M. R. (1986). Peasant versus government perception and use of the environment: a case-study of Banjarese
ecology and river basin development in South Kalimantan. Journal of Sot&east Asian Studies 17, 113-136.
DRUCKER, C. (1985). Dam the Chico: Hydropower development and tribal resistance. Ecologist 15, 149-157.
DRYZEK, J. S. (1987). Rational Ecology: Environment and Political Economy. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
DURNING,A. B. (1990). Ending poverty In State of the World 1990: A Workhatch Institute Report on Progress
Toward a Sustainable Sociey (L. R. Brown ed.) pp. 135-153. London: Unwin Hyman.
EMEL, J. AND&ET, R (1989). Resource management and natural hazards. In New Models in Geography: The Political
Economy Penpectiue, Volume 1 (R Peet and N. Thrift eds) pp. 49-76. London: Unwin Hyman
FALKUS, M. (1990). Economic history and environment in Southeast Asia. Asian Studies Review 14, 65-79.
FEARNSIDE, P. M. (1986). Agricultural plans for Brazil’s Grande Carajas Program: lost opportunity for sustainable
local development? World Development 14, 385-409.
FERNANDES, W. (1990). Forest policy: a solution to tribal deprivation? Indian Journal of Social Work 51, 35-56.
Fox, R C. (1988). Environment, tribe, politics and policy in Eastern Province, Kenya. In Environmental Crises in
Developing Countries (P. Blaikie and T. Unwin eds) pp. 83-110. London: Institute of British Geographers,
Developing Areas Research Group, Monograph No. 5.
FRANW,R. W. ANDCHASIN,B. H. (1980). Seeds of Famine: Ecological Destruction and the Development Dilemma in
the West AJikan Sahel. Montclair, NJ: Allanheld Osmun.
GALTUNG, J. (1982). Environment, Development and Militay Actit@: Towards Alternative Security Doctrines. Oslo:
Universitetsforlaget.
GARCIA,R. V. (1981). Volume I: Nature Pleads Not Guilty Oxford: Pergamon Press.
GEORGE,S. (1985). III Fares the Land: Ihzys on Food, Hunger and Power. London: Writers and Readers.
GEORGE,S. (1988). A Fate Worse Than Debt. London: Penguin.
GIDDENS,A. (1979). Central Problems in Social %eoy: Action, Structure and Contradiction in Social Analysis.
London: Macmillan.
Gtu, S. AND LAW, D. (1988). The Global Political Economy: Perspectives, Problems and Policies. London: Harvester
Wheatsheaf
Gtuts, M. (1987). Multinational enterprises and environmental and resource management issues in the Indonesian
tropical forest sector. In Multinational Corporations, Environment, and the Third World: Business Matte (C.
S. Pearson ed.) pp. 64-89. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Gouts, M. (1988a). Indonesia: public policies, resource management, and the tropical forest. In Public Policies and
the Misuse of Forest Resources (R Repetto and M. Gillis eds) pp. 43-113. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
GILLIS,M. (1988b). Malaysia: public policies and the tropical forest. In Public Policies and the Misuse of Forest
Resources (R. Repetto and M. Gillis eds) pp. 115-164. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
GILLIS,M. AND REPET~O, R. (1988). Conclusion: findings and policy implications. In Public Policies and the Misuse of
Forest Resources (R. Repetto and M. Gillis eds) pp. 385-410. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
GLADDEN, T. N. (1987). Environment, development, and multinational enterprise. In Multinational Ccwporathz.s,
Enviiwnment, and the Third World: Business Matters (C. S. Pearson ed.) pp. 3-31. Durham, NC: Duke
University Press.
GODANA, 8. A. (1985). Aj%dS Shared Water Resources: Legal and Institutional QecrS of the Nile, Niger and
Senegal River Systems. London: Frances Pinter.
GOLDSMITH, E. AND HILDYARD, N. (1984). The Social and Environmental Effects of Large Dams, Volume I.
Wadebridge, Cornwall: Wadebridge Ecological Centre.
G~DSMIIIX, E. AND H~DYARD, N., EDS (1986). The Social and Environmental Effects of Large Dams, Volume II.
Wadebridge, Cornwall: Wadebridge Ecological Centre.
GOODMAN, D., SORJ, B. ANDWILKINSON, J. (1987). From Farming to Biotechnology: A Theory of Agro-indushal

Development. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

G~JHA,R. (1985). Forestry and social protest in British Kumaun, c.1893-1921. In Subaltern Studies IV: Writings on
South Asian History and Society (R Guha ed.) pp. 54-100. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Gutw, R. (1989a). The UnquietWoo&: Ecological Change and Peasant Resistance in the Himalaya. Delhi: Oxford
University Press.
G~JHA,R. (1989b). Saboteurs in the forest: colonialism and peasant resistance in the Indian Himalaya. In Eveyahy
Forms of Peasant Resistance (F. D. Colburn ed.) pp. 64-92. London: M. E. Sharpe.
 RAY?AOND
L. BRYANT 33

GUHA, R. (1990). An early environmental debate: the making of the 1878 Forest Act. Indian Economic and Social
Histovy Review 27, 65-84.
GUHA, R ANDG,w.x, M. (1989). State forestry and social conflict in British India. Past nndPres&w 123, 141-177.
GUIMARAES, R. P. (1989). The ecopohtics of development in Brazil CEPAL Review 38, 89-103.
GUYER,J. 1. ANDPETERS,P. E., EDS (1987). Conceptualizing the household: issues of theory and policy in Africa.
Development and Change 18(2). (Special rssue)
HA&~ER,J A. ANDAPICHA~UUOP,Y. (1990). Farming the forest: managing people and trees in reserved forests in
Thailand. Geoforum 21, 331-346.
HAU, A. (1987). Agrarian crisis in Brazilian Amazonia: the Grande Carajas programme. Journal of Development
Studies 23, 522-552.
HAU., k L. (1989). Developing Amazonia: Deforestation and Social Conflict in Brazil’s Carajas Programme.
Manchester: Manchester University Press.
H~ILTON, L. S. ANDPEARCE, A J. (1988). Soil and water impacts of deforestation. In Deforestation: SocialDynamics
in Warersheds and Mountain Ecosystems 0. Ives and D. C. Pitt eds) pp. 75-98. London: Routledge.
ICU(T, G., TURTON,A. ANDWHITE B., EDS (1989). &nw%an Transformations: Local Processes and the State in
Southeast Asia London: University of California Press.
HAUGERLD, A. (1989). Land tenure and agrarian change in Kenya. @ricer 59, 61-90.
HAYNES,K. E. ANDWHITTINGTON, D. (1981). International management of the Nile-stage three? Geogrqbical
Review 71, 17-32.
HECHT,S. B. (1984). Cattle-ranching in Amazonia: political and ecological considerations. In FrontierEqution in
Amazonia (M. Schmink and C. H. Wood eds) pp. 366-398. Gainesville: University of Florida Press.
HECHIT,S. B. (1985). Environment, development and politics: capital accumulation and the livestock sector in
eastern Amazonia. World Development 13, 663-684.
HECHT,S. B. ANDCOCKBURN, A. (1989). The Fate of the Forest. Developers, Destrqvers andDefenders of the Amazon.
London: Versa
HETSIT,S. B., ANDERSON, A. B. ANDMAY,P. (1988) The subsidy from nature: shifting cultivation, successional palm
forests, and rural development. Human Organization 47, 25-35.
Hetxu~q H. (1979). Contradictions in the peripheraiization of a pastoral society: the Maasai. Rev&w of A,+ican
Political Economy 15116, 53-62.
Harma, B. (1990). Development Theory and the Three Work&. London: Longman
HIRSCH,P (1990). Forests, forest reserve, and forest land in Thailand. Geographical Journal 156, 166-174.
HIRSCH,P. ANDLOHMANN, L. (1989). Contemporary politics of environment in Thailand. A&n Sunq 29, 439-451.
HJORT AF ORNAS,A. ANDMOHAMED SALIH,M. A., EDS(1989). Ecology and Politics: Environmental Srres and Security
in ~&ca. Uppsala: Scandinavian Institute of African Studies.
HONG, E. (1987). Natives of Sarawak: Survival in Borneo’s Vanljhing Forests. Penang: Institut Masyarakat.
HOROWITZ, M. M. (1986). Ideology, policy, and praxis in pastoral livestock development. In AnthopologV and Rural
Development in West Af?ica (M. M. Horowitz and T. M. Painter eds) pp. 251-272. London: Westview Press.
Hoaowtrz, M. M. ANDLrrtx, P. D. (1987). African pastoralism and poverty: some implications for drought and
famine. In Drought and Hunger in AjiYca: Denying Famine a Future (M. H. Glantz ed.) pp.59-82.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ho~owrtz, M. M. ANDSALEM-MURDOCK, M. (1987). The political economy of desettiilcation in White Nile Province,
Sudan. In Lands at R&k in the mird World: Local-Level Perspectives (P, D. Little and M. M. Horowitz eds)
pp. 95-114. London: Westview Press.
Howau, P., LOCK,M. ANDCOBB,S., EDS(1988). The Jonglei Canal: Impact and Opporhmity. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
HURST,P. (1990). Rainforest Politics: Ecological Desh-ution in South-East Asia. London: Zed Books.
JAIN,S. (1984). Women and people’s ecological movement: a case-study of women’s role in the Chipko movement
in Uttar Pradesh. Economic and Political Weekly 19, 1788-1794.
JODHA,N. S. (1986). Common property resources and rural poor in dry regions of India. Economic and Political
Weekly 21, 1169-1181.
JOHNSTON,R. J. (1989). Environmental Problems: Nature, Economy and State. London: Belhaven Press.
K&TENJR., R W. (1986) Development banks: subsidizing Third-World pollution. Washingron Quarterly 9,109-114.
KEMF, E. (1990). Month of Pure Light. The Regreening of Vietnam. London: The Women’s Press,
KENNEY,M. AND Bua-ra~, F. (1985). Biotechnology: prospects and dilemmas for Third-World development.
Development and Change 16, 61-91.
H. (1977). Ecology Control and Economic Development in East Aji-ican History: The Case of Tanganyika,
KJEKSHLIS,
1850-1950. London: Heinemann.
tiOPPEmURG, J R. (1988). Fin-t the Seed: %e Political Economy of PIant Biotechnology 1492-2000. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
 Political ecology

K~KARNI,S. (1983). Towards a social forest policy Economic and Political Weekly 18, 191-196.
LAUREN, P. G (1982). War, peace and the environment. In InternationalDimensions of the Environmental Crisis (R.
N. Barrett ed.) pp. 75-90. Boulder: Westview Press.
LEONARD,H. J. (1985). Political and economic causes of Third-World environmental degradation. In Divesting
Nature’s Capital: The Poliricul Economy of Environmenlal Abuse in he Third World (H. J. Leonard ed.)
pp. 93-136. London: Holmes and Meier.
LEONARD, H. J. (1988). Pollution and the Shugglefor the WorldProduct: Mulrinational Cotporarions, Environment,
and International Comparative Advantage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
LEPRES~E, P. G. (1989). The WorMBank and the Environmenlal Challenge. London: Associated University Presses.
Ltm~, P. D. ANDHORO~TZ, M. M., EDS(1987). Lands at R&-kin the Third World: Local-Level Peq0ectives. London:
Westview Press.
LOHMANN, L. (1990). Commercial tree plantations in Thailand: deforestation by any other name. Ecologist 20(l),
9-17.
MAATHAI, W. (1986). The Green Belt Movement. In The Living Economy: A New Economics in the Making (P. Ekins
ed.) pp. 289-295. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
MACKENZIE, F. (1986). Local initiatives and national policy: gender and agricultural change in Murang’s district,
Kenya. Canadian Journal of iSfran Studies 20, 377-401.
MACKENZIE, F. (1989). Land and territory: the interface between two systems of land tenure, Murang’s district, Kenya.
@&a 59, 91-109.
MACKENZIE, J. M. (1988). i%e Empire of Nature: Hunring, Conservalion and British Imperhlism Manchester:
Manchester University Press.
MAND~, R. (1988) Con&f otler the Worlds Resources: Backg?xxmd, Trends, Case-Shuiies, and Considerations for
the Future. Westport, Corm.: Greenwood Press.
-TON, S. A. (1983). Natural hazards research: towards a political economy perspecnve. Political Geograp@s
Q_uarter~y 2,339-348.
MCCRACKEN, J. (1987). Colonialism, capitalism and the ecological crisis in Malawi: a reassessment. In Conservahn
in ilfrica: People, Policies and Practice (D. Anderson and R Grove eds) pp. 63-77. Cambridge: Cambridge
[Jniversity Press
MCDOWIXL,M. A. (1989). Development and the environment in ASEAN Pacific Ajairs 62, 307-329.
ME~CHAI, B (1988). The teak industry in north ThaIland: the role of a natural-resource-based export economy in
regional development. Ph.D. thesis, Cornell University.
MESSERLI,B (1990). The Himalayan dilemma: crisis, pseudo-crisis, or supercrisis. Paper presented at the
Conference on International Environmental and Resource Issues in the Ganges-Brahmaputra Basin, School
of Oriental and Afrxan Studies, London.
MIES,M. (1984). Capitalism and subsistence: rural women in India. Development 4, 18-24.
MISCHE,P. M. (1989). Ecological security and the need to reconceptualize sovereignty Alrerruuiws 14, 389-427.
MORTIMORE, M. (1989). Adapting to Drougbc Farmetx, Famines and Desertificarion in West A@ica Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
MARS, N. (1984). The Primay Source: Tropical Forests and Our Future. London: W. W. Norton and Company.
MYERS,N. (1989). Population growth, environmental decline and security issues in sub-Saharan Africa. In Ecolog)~
and Politics: Environmental Stress and Sect&p in .@ica (A Hjort af Ornas and M. A. Mohamed Salih eds)
pp. 211-231. Uppsala: Scandinavian Institute of African Studies.
NADKARNI, M. V. (1989). The Political Economy of Forest Use and Management. London: Sage Publications.
NEUANDS, J. B., OR&%, G. H., PFEIFFER, E. W., VENNEMA, A. ANDWESTING,A. H. (1972). Harvest of Death: Chemical
Warfare in Vietnam and Cambodia New York: Free Press.
O’BRIEN,J. (1985). Sowing the seeds of famine: the political economy of food deficits in Sudan. Review of4frcan
Political Economy 33, 23-32.
O’CONNOR,J. (1989). Uneven and combined development and ecological crisis: a theoretical introduction. Race
and Class 30, l-11.
OKOTH-OGENDO,H. W. 0. (1989). Some issues of theory in the study of tenure relations in African agriculture.
A@ica 59, 6-17.
OMVEDT,G. (1989). Ecology and social movements. In Sociology of Developing Societies’: South Asia (H. Alavi andJ.
Harriss eds) pp. 288-296. London: Macmillan.
PAINTER,M. (1987). Unequal exchange: the dynamics of settler impoverishment and environmental destruction in
lowland Bolivia. In Lands at Risk in the Third World: Local-Level Peqbectives (P. D. Linle and M. M. Horowitz
eds) pp. 164-191. London: Westview Press.
PF&~oN, C. S. (1985). Down lo Busines: Multinarional Corporations, the Environment, and Development.
Washington, DC: World Resources Institute.
 RAYMOND L. BRYN~ 35

MASON, c. S., ED. (1987). Multi?uztional Corporations, Environment, and the Third World: Business Matters
Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
PEET, R. (1985). The social origins of environmental determinism. Ann& of the A%-octiztion Of American
Geographers 75, 309-333.
wcso, N. L. (1988). Rich forests, poor people and development: forest access control and resistance inJava. Ph.D.
thesis, Cornell University.
Patrso, N. L. AND POFFEMERGER, M. (1989). Social forestry in Java: reorienting management systems Human
&ganization 48333-344.
pimps, P. E. (1984). Struggles over water, stru,ggles over meaning: cattle, water and the state in Botswana. A&c%? 54,
29-49
PINTZ, W. (1987). Environmental negotiations in the Ok Tedi Mine in Papua New Guinea. In Multinational
Covporations, Environment, and the Third World, Business MatlaJ (C. S Pearson ed.) pp. 35-63. Durham,
NC: Duke IJniversity Press.
PITKKK, A. H , Hmwm..M.
A.. ET AL (1985). Enoironmental Consequences of Nuclear War. I. Phq’sical and
Atmo;ghe&Effects II. Ecological and Agricultural Effects. 2 ~01s. Chichester, UK: John Wiley and Sons.
POMPEFXQZR, M. J. (1984). Strategies of private capital in the Brazilian Amazon. In Frontier Expansion in Amazonia
(M. Schmink and C. H. Wood eds) pp. 419-438. Gainesville: University of Florida Press.
PORTER, G. wtnt GANAPINJR., D. J. (1990). Resources, population and the future of the Philippines. In In the US
Interest: Resources, Growth, and Securip in the Developing World (j W. Brown ed.) pp. 59-88. London:
Westview Press.
Rwos, A. R. (1984). Frontier expansion and Indian peoples in the Brazilian Amazon. In Frontier Expansion in
Amazonia (M. Schmink and C. H. Wood eds) pp. 83-104. Gainesville: University of Florida Press.
RA~ENHIIJ, J. (1990). balance of power. International A&zirs 66, 731-748.
‘Ihe Nonh-South
R~na.wr, M. (1984). Development
and the Environmental Crisk Red or Green Alternatives? London: Methuen.
Rena wr, M. (1987). Sustainable Detjelopment: Exploring the Contradictions. London: Methuen.
REPEWO, R. (1988a). m Forestfor the Trees? Gorwnment Policies and the Misuse of Forest Resources. Washington,
DC: World Resources Institute.
REI~TO, R. (1988b). Overview. In Public Policies and the Misuse of Forest Resources (R. Repetto and M. Gillis eds)
pp. l-41. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
R~PETTO, R. AND Gtt.w, M., EDS (1988). Public Policies and the Misuse of Forest Resources. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
RICH, B. M. (1985).Multi-lateral development banks: their role in destroying the global environment. Ecologist 15,
56-68.
RICHARDS,P. (1983). Ecological change and the politics of African land use. AJ%zn Studies Reuiew 26(2), l-72.
RICHARDS,P (1985). Indigenow Agricultural Reuolution: Ecology and Food Production in West Ajika London:
Hutchinson
RKHARDS, P. (1990). Local strategies for coping with hunger: central Sierra Leone and northern Nigeria compared.
Aji?can wairs 89, 265-275.
SALDANHA,1. M. ( 1990). The political ecology of traditional farming practices in Thana district, Maharashtra (India).
Journal of Peasant Studies 17, 433-443.
SCHMINK,M. (1982). Land conflicts in Amazonia. American Etbnofogist 9, 341-357.
SCIL~NK, M. (1988a). A case-study of the closing frontier in Brazil. In Power and Pozwty: Deuelopment and
Development Projec& in the Third World (D W. Attwood, T. C. Bruneau and J. G. Galaty eds) pp. 135-153.
London: Westview Press.
SCHMINK, M. (1988b). Big business in the Amazon. In People of the Tropical Ruin Forest 0. S. Denslow and C.
Padoch eds) pp. 163-174. London: University of California Press
SCHMINK, M. AND WOOD, C. H. (1987). The ‘political ecology’ of Amazonia. In Lands at Ris/z in the Third World:
Local-Level Perspectives (P. D. Little and M M. Horowitz eds) pp. 38-57. London: Westview Press.
SCHNEIDER,A., EI). (1989). Deforestation and ~Deuelopment’ in Canada and the Ttvpics: The Impact on People and
the En&onment. Sydney, Nova Scotia: University College of Cape Breton, Centre for International Studies.
SCHWARTZMAN,S. (1989). Extractive reserves. the rubber-tappers’ strategy for sustainable use of the Amazon
rainforest. In Fragile Lands of Latin America Strategies for Sustainable Deuelopment (j 0. Browder ed.)
pp. 150-165. London: Westview Press
Scorr, J. C. (1985). of the We&: Ew?yaiay Forms of Peawnt Restktance. London: Yale University Press.
Weapons
SHANMUGARA~~, N. (1989). a view from the South Race and C&s 30, 13-30.
Development
and environment:
SHENTON,B. ANDW~rrs, M (1979). Capitalism and hunger in northern Nigeria. Review of .@ican Political Economy
15/16, 53-62.
SHNP., V. (1987). People’s ecology: the Chipko movement In Towards a Just World Peace: Perspectivesfrom Social
Mouemen& (S. M Mendlovitz and R. B. J. Walker eds) pp. 253-270. London: Butterworths.
36 Political ecology

SHNA, V. (1988). Staying Alive: Women, Ecology and Dewlopment. London: Zed Books,
SHNA,V. ANDBANDYOPADHYAY, J. (1988). The Chipko movement. In Deforestation: So&l Dynamics in Water&e&
and Mountain Ecosystems (J. Ives and D. C. Pitt eds) pp. 224-241. London: Routledge.
SKOCPOL,T. (1985). Bringing the state back in: strategies of analysis in current research. In Bringing theStateBack
In (P. B. Evans, D. Rueschemeyer and T. Skocpol eds) pp. 3-37. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
SMIL,V. (1984). 7% Bad Earth: Emironmental Degradation in China. London: Zed Press.
%e, V. (1987). Land degradation in China: an ancient problem getting worse. InLandDegr&ion andSo&y (P.
Blaikie and H. Brookfield eds) pp. 214-222. London: Methuen.
SUSMAN,P., O’KEEFF, P. ANDWISNER,B. (1983). Global disasters: a radical interpretation, In Interpretations of
Calamiryfrom the Viaopoint of Human Ecology (K. Hewitt ed.) pp. 263-283. London: Ailen and Unwin.
THOMSON,J. T. (1985). The politics of desertification in marginal environments: the Sahelian case. In Divesting
NatureS Capital: The Political Economy of Environmental Abuse in the Third WorM (H. J. Leonard ed.)
pp. 227-262. London: Holmes and Meier.
T~MBERLAKE, L. (1988). Aji-ica in Crisis: The Causes, the Curses of Environmental Bankruptcy, 2nd edn. London:
Earthscan.
TOLBA,M. U (1987). Sustainable Development: Constraints and Opportunities. London: Bunerworths.
TOURE,0. (1988). The pa.storaI environment of northern Senegal. Review of Ajiican Politic&Economy 42,32-39.
VAIL,L. (1977). Ecology and history: the example of eastern Zambia. Journul of Southern AJ&un Studies 3,
129-155.
WALKER,K. J. (1989). The state in environmentai management: the ecological dimension. Pol&icul Studies 37,
25-38.
WA’~ERBURY, J. (1979). Hydtwpolitics of the Nile Vallq. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press.
W~rrs, M. (1983a). On the poverty of theory: natural hazards research in context. In Intetpretations of Calamity
from the Viewpoint of Human Ecology (K. Hewitt ed.) pp. 231-262. London: Allen and Unwin.
Wxrrs, M. (1983b). Silent Violence: Food, Famine and Peasantty in Northern Nigeria. Berkeley: University of
California Press.
W~rrs, M. (1984). The demise of the moral economy: food and famine in a Sudano-Sahelian region in historical
perspective. In Life Before the Drought (E. Scott ed.) pp. 124-148. London: Allen and Unwin.
W~rrs, M. (1989). The agrarian question in Africa: debating the crisis. Progress in Human Geograp@ 13, 1-41.
WA?TS,M. (1990). Peasants under contract: agro-food complexes in the Third World. In 77x Food Question: Profits
Versus People? (H. Bernstein, B. Crow, M. Mackintosh and C. Martin eds) pp. 149-162. London: Fatthscan.
WEBER,T. (1987). Hugging the Trees: The Stoy of the Chtpko Movemen t. New Delhi: Viking.
WESTING, A. H. (1976). Ecological Consequences of the Second Indochina War. Stockholm: Stockholm International
Peace Research Institute.
WESTLNG, A. H., ED. (1980). Walfare in a Fragile Worki: Military Impact on the Human Envhnment. London:
Taylor and Francis.
WESTING, k H., ED. (1984a). Herbicides in War: The Long-term Ecological and Human Consequences. London:
Taylor and Francis.
WESTING, A. H., ED. (198413). Environmental War&are:A Technical, Legal and Policy A#raisal. London Taylor and
Francis.
WESTING. A. H., ED. (1985). lhplosiw Remnants of War: Mitigating the Erwkonmental Effects. London: Taylor and
Francis.
WESTTNG, A. H., ED. (1986). Global Resources and International ConJi’ict: Envitwnmental Factotx in Strategic Policy
and Action. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
WHINIEAD, A. (1990). Food crisis and gender cot&a in the African countryside. In 7Iw Food Question: Profits
Venus People? (H. Bernstein, B. Crow, M. Mackintosh and C. Martin eds) pp. 54-68. London: Earthscan
WHITIMXON, D. AND HARES, K. E. (1985). Nile water for whom? Emerging conilicts in water allocation for
agricultural expansion in Egypt and Sudan. In Agricultural Development in the Middle East (P. Beaumont and
K McLachlan eds) pp. 125-149. Chichester: John Wiley and Sons.
WIJKMAN, A. ANDT~MBERLAKE, L. (1984). Natural Disasters: Acts of God or Acts of Man? London: Earthscan.
WOOD, C. H. ANDSCHMINK,M. (1979). Blaming the victim: small-farmer production in an Amazon colonization
project. Studies in Third World So&h& 7, 77-93.
WORBY,E. (1988). Livestock policy and development ideology in Botswana. In Power and Poverty: Dewlopment
andDevelopment Pro~wts in the Third World (D. W. Attwood, T. C. Bruneau andJ. G. GaIaty eds) pp. 155-180.
London: Westview Press.
WORLD COMMISSION ON ENVIRONMINI AND DEVELOPMENT (1987). Our Common Future. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
&MAN, M. Q. (1989). The social and political context of adjustment to riverbank erosion hazard and population
resettlement in Bangladesh. Human Organization 48, 196205.