Political Economy of Soil Erosion in Developing Countries, The

by Piers M. Blaikie

First published in 1985. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

198 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

Reviews

[CL Chu · Rating 2 out of 5]

An important work for political ecology but the prose is very, very dry & loosely organized, with frequent "refer to chapter X", "we've discussed this in chapter Z", and random "this book argues that".

Probably that's because the book reads like a policy document that criticized all the former policy documents (while I expect to read ethnography). Besides, it also has a surprisingly positive attitude to systems analysis - a historical phenomenon I suppose. Overall, if this is a classics in political economy, than political economy is not for me.

[Brurce Mecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a classic book for those who wish to enter and orient yourself in the world of environmental development. The multi-dimensionality of this book undoubtedly put what seemingly physical environmental problem onto wider political context. Blaikie's analysis clearly navigates readers to probe on the long withstanding failure of development efforts, particularly on why and how it happened, but less on the 'what next', which apparently is out of scope. Blaikie is biased towards marxism views but he fortunately acknowledged it, although I couldn't have imagined being able to narrate such in-depth analysis without being predisposed to certain political stances. Nothing is ever neutral