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Democratizing the Developmental State

Alex Dyzenhaus

Contact: dyzenhaus(at)gmail.com

Research Fellow, University of Cape Town

Alex Dyzenhaus studies the political economy of land, redistribution and democracy in Africa. In his current project, he examines the role of agriculture, liberalisation and segregation in conditioning South Africa’s land reform program. His work has been published in Comparative Politics, World Develpment, The Journal of Peace Research and African Affairs. Alex has a PhD in Government from Cornell University (2022) and was a SSHRC postdoctoral  researcher in the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto.

Research project

A Grain of Maize: Markets and Agriculture in South Africa’s Land Reform Program

South Africa’s market-driven land reform program has attempted to address racial land inequality in the post-apartheid period. In this project, I examine within-case variation in land transfers. I explain how markets and states interact to either catalyse redistributive reform or work against it. This research involves sectoral case studies of commodity sectors: sugar, grains, fruits and livestock. How do various agricultural and business institutions within these sectors condition redistribution? What explains why farmers in some commodity sectors have sold more land for land reform purposes? I also examine broader conditions of farmers‘ supply of land within the market-based program, such as local histories of race, segregation and identity.