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Revisiting the Political Economy of Land in South Africa : Hernando de Soto, Property and Economic Development, 1860- 1920
Dissertation (MScoSci (History))--University of Pretoria, 2020.
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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University of Pretoria
2020
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| _version_ | 1867613454719778816 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author2 | Macqueen, Ian |
| author_browse | Macqueen, Ian |
| author_facet | Macqueen, Ian |
| collection | Thesis |
| dc_rights_str_mv | © 2019 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. |
| description | Dissertation (MScoSci (History))--University of Pretoria, 2020. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/77296 |
| institution | University of Pretoria (South Africa) |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:36:24.683Z |
| license_str | Other — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| publishDateRange | 2020 |
| publishDateSort | 2020 |
| publisher | University of Pretoria |
| publisherStr | University of Pretoria |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository |
| spelling | oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/77296 Revisiting the Political Economy of Land in South Africa : Hernando de Soto, Property and Economic Development, 1860- 1920 Macqueen, Ian andrew.harris@up.ac.za Harris, Andrew Southern African History UCTD Dissertation (MScoSci (History))--University of Pretoria, 2020. Land ownership remains an important and contested issue in contemporary South African politics. Drawing inspiration from Hernando de Soto’s work, especially his book, The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else (2000), which sees equitable and private land ownership as a key factor for economic growth and development, this thesis details South Africa’s own landed past in order to better understand its political present. Its central research question asks: What role did South Africa’s land and agricultural policies from 1860-1920 play in the country’s unequal development over time? This thesis traces historical transitions in land ownership patterns from the four weak and underdeveloped settler colonies (The Cape Colony, Natal, Orange Free State and the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek) to the rapidly industrialising, but racialised, South African state and the eventual emergence of white commercial farming by 1920. The thesis engages with a long heritage of South African historical writing on political economy as a central methodology, from its early liberal roots with W.M. Macmillan’s writings on rural poverty in the 1920s, to more radical, neo-Marxist writings of the 1970s and 1980s. This thesis argues that the racialised land and labour policies from 1860-1920 produced a white oligarchy of landowners, which led to an unequal distribution of wealth over time and following De Soto, therefore inhibited economic growth and development. The thesis ultimately speaks to the validity of De Soto’s work, as well as the importance of land and agricultural policies in South Africa today. Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Historical and Heritage Studies MSocSci (History) Unrestricted 2020-12-07T10:34:07Z 2020-12-07T10:34:07Z 2021-04-01 2020-10-30 Thesis Harris, A 2020, Revisiting the Political Economy of Land in South Africa : Hernando de Soto, Property and Economic Development, 1860- 1920, MSocSci (History) Thesis, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd <http://hdl.handle.net/2263/77296> A2021 http://hdl.handle.net/2263/77296 en © 2019 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. application/pdf University of Pretoria |
| spellingShingle | Southern African History UCTD Revisiting the Political Economy of Land in South Africa : Hernando de Soto, Property and Economic Development, 1860- 1920 |
| title | Revisiting the Political Economy of Land in South Africa : Hernando de Soto, Property and Economic Development, 1860- 1920 |
| title_full | Revisiting the Political Economy of Land in South Africa : Hernando de Soto, Property and Economic Development, 1860- 1920 |
| title_fullStr | Revisiting the Political Economy of Land in South Africa : Hernando de Soto, Property and Economic Development, 1860- 1920 |
| title_full_unstemmed | Revisiting the Political Economy of Land in South Africa : Hernando de Soto, Property and Economic Development, 1860- 1920 |
| title_short | Revisiting the Political Economy of Land in South Africa : Hernando de Soto, Property and Economic Development, 1860- 1920 |
| title_sort | revisiting the political economy of land in south africa hernando de soto property and economic development 1860 1920 |
| topic | Southern African History UCTD |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/2263/77296 |