Ben McKay

My research focuses on the political economy and ecology of agrarian change in Latin America, agrarian extractivism, and food sovereignty alternatives. I have carried out research and maintain research interests in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela. I am an Associate Researcher with Bolivian NGO Fundación TIERRA, part of the coordinating team for the BRICS Initiative for Critical Agrarian Studies (BICAS), and a Co-Convener of the Calgary Institute for the Humanities (CIH) Working Group Rethinking Latin American Studies from the South (RLASS).

Google Scholar Profile

SUPERVISION

Currently accepting applications from students interested in pursuing graduate studies in critical development studies (MA and PhD). Interested candidates should contact me for more details. Funding is available on a competitive basis.

Graduate Students Supervised

2022-present, Sammy Sanchez, MA-PhD, Two faces of dispossession of the peasanrtry: between the policies of conservation and agribusiness expansion in Colombia

2022-present, Karla Oliveira, PhD, Water grabbing dynamics and the rise of water conflicts

2021-present, Chelsea Rozanski, PhD, Radical growth of relational foodways

2020-2022, Nathaneal Cannon, MA, Alternative Albertan Agriculture

2019-2021, Gertrude Samar, MA, The implications of large-scale land acquisitions on agrarian societies: A case of oil palm development in Ghana

2018-2020, Bright Adu Yeboah, MA, Ecotourism and sustainable development: an investigation of ecotourism visitors' experience at Boabeng-Fiema Monkey Sanctuary, Ghana

Books

McKay, B.M., A. Alonso-Fradejas, A. Ezquerro-Cañete (Eds.) (2022) Extractivismo agrario en América Latina. Buenos Aires: CLACSO.

Akram-Lodhi, H., K. Dietz, B. Engels and B. M. McKay (Eds.) (2021) The Edward Elgar Handbook in Critical Agrarian Studies. Chelmsford: Edward Elgar.

McKay, B.M., A. Alonso-Fradejas, A. Ezquerro-Cañete (Eds.) (2021). Agrarian Extractivism in Latin America. Routledge: London and New York.

McKay, B.M. (2020) The Political Economy of Agrarian Extractivism: Lessons from Bolivia. Halifax: Fernwood Publishing.

McKay, B.M. (2018) Extractivismo agrario: Dinámicas de poder, acumulación y exclusión en Bolivia. La Paz: Fundación TIERRA.

McKay, B.M., R. Hall and J. Liu (Eds.) (2018) Rural Transformations and Agro-Food Systems: The BRICS and Agrarian Change in the Global South. New York: Routledge.

Peer Reviewed Journal Articles

McKay, B.M. and G. Colque. (2021) ‘Populism and its authoritarian tendencies: the politics of division in Bolivia', Latin American Perspectives, https://doi.org/10.1177/0094582X211052980

McKay, B.M. (2021) ‘De campesinos a agro-mineros: convergencias y contradicciones entre neo-extractivismo y soberanía alimentaria en Bolivia’, Cuestión Agraria, accepted and forthcoming.

Oliveira, G. de L.T., B.M. McKay, and J. Liu. (2021) ‘Beyond land grabs: new insights on land struggles and global agrarian change’, Globalizations, 18(3):321-338. https://doi.org/10.1080/14747731.2020.1843842

McKay, B.M., G. Oliveira, and J. Liu. (2020). Authoritarianism, Populism, Nationalism and Resistance in the Agrarian South’, Canadian Journal of Development Studies, 41(3):347-362.  https://doi.org/10.1080/02255189.2020.1814707

McKay, B.M. (2020). ‘Food sovereignty and neo-extractivism limits and possibilities of an alternative development model’, Globalizations, 17(8):1386-1404. https://doi.org/10.1080/14747731.2019.1691798

McKay, B.M. (2019) ‘Land Access and Control: Rights, Reform and Restitution’, Policy in Focus, 16(1). Special Issue: Rural Poverty Reduction in the 21^st Century. United Nations Development Programme, International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth: Brasilia, Brazil. Available at <https://ipcig.org/pub/eng/PIF44_Rural_poverty_reduction_in_the_21st_century.pdf>

McKay, B.M. (2018) ‘The politics of convergence in Bolivia: social movements and the state’, Third World Quarterly, 39(7): 1247-1269. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2017.1399056

Goetz, A., T. Searchinger, T. Beringer, L. German, B. McKay, G. de L.T. Oliveira and C. Hunsberger. (2018) Reply to commentary on the special issue Scaling up biofuels? A critical look at expectations, performance and governance’, Energy Policy, 118, 658-665. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.03.046

McKay, B.M. (2018) ‘Colombia’s Agrarian Dynamics: Rights, Reform and Restitution’, Canadian Journal of Development Studies/Revue canadienne d’études du développement, 39(2):163-181. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02255189.2017.1364621

McKay, B.M. (2018) ‘The politics of agrarian change in Bolivia’s soy complex’, Journal of Agrarian Change, 18(2):406-424. https://doi.org/10.1111/joac.12240

McKay, B.M. (2018). ‘Control grabbing and value-chain agriculture: BRICS, MICs and Bolivia’s soy complex’, Globalizations, 15(1):74-91. https://doi.org/10.1080/14747731.2017.1374563

McKay, B.M. (2017) ‘Agrarian extractivism in Bolivia’, World Development, 91, 199-211. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2017.04.007 

Oliveira, G. de L.T., B. McKay, and C. Plank. (2017) ‘How biofuels policies backfire: Misguided goals, inefficient mechanisms, and political-ecological blind spots’, Energy Policy, 108, 765-775. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2017.03.036 

McKay, B.M., R. Hall and J. Liu (2016). ‘Introduction: The rise of BRICS and its implications for global agrarian transformation’, Third World Thematics: A TWQ Journal, 1(5):581-591.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23802014.2016.1362323

McKay, B.M., A. Alonso-Fradejas, Z. Brent, S. Sauer, Y. Xu. (2016). ‘China in Latin America: towards a new ‘consensus’ of resource control?’, Third World Thematics: A TWQ Journal, 1(5):592-611.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23802014.2016.1344564

McKay, B. and G. Colque. (2016). ‘Bolivia’s Soy Complex: The Development of ‘Productive Exclusion’’, Journal of Peasant Studies, 43(2):583-610. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2015.1053875

McKay, B., S. Sauer, B. Richardson and R. Herre. (2016). ‘The political economy of sugarcane flexing: Initial insights from Brazil, Southern Africa and Cambodia’, Journal of Peasant Studies, 43(1):195-223.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2014.992016

McKay, B. and R. Nehring (2015) Situación de la soberanía alimentaria en América Latina: proyectos políticos y vías alternativas en Venezuela, Ecuador y Bolivia, Cuestión Agraria, Vol. 2: 7-38.

McKay, B., R. Nehring, R. and M. Walsh-Dilley (2014). ‘The 'state' of food sovereignty in Latin America: political projects and alternative pathways in Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia’, Journal of Peasant Studies, 41(6):1175-1200.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2014.964217

Book Reviews

McKay, B.M. (2018) ‘Against colonization and rural dispossession: local resistance in South and East Asia, the Pacific and Africa, edited by Dip Kapoor’, Canadian Journal of Development Studies/Revue canadienne d’études du développement, 39(4): 597-599. https://doi.org/10.1080/02255189.2018.1500884

Peer Reviewed Book Chapters

McKay, B.M. (forthcoming, 2021) ‘Land policies for inclusive growth and poverty eradication’ in Arjan de Haan, A. (eds.) The Edward Elgar Handbook on Inclusive Growth and Development. Chelmsford: Edward Elgar.

Akram-Lodhi, H.A., K. Dietz, B. Engels and B.M. McKay (2020). ‘Introduction to the Handbook’ in Haroon Akram Lodhi, Kristina Dietz, Bettina Engels and Ben M. McKay (eds) The Edward Elgar Handbook of Critical Agrarian Studies. Chelmsford: Edward Elgar. (accepted and forthcoming).

Oliveira, G. and B.M. McKay (2020). ‘The rise of BRICS and MICs: global agrarian transformations’, in Haroon Akram Lodhi, Kristina Dietz, Bettina Engels and Ben M. McKay (eds) The Edward Elgar Handbook of Critical Agrarian Studies. Chelmsford: Edward Elgar. (accepted and forthcoming).

McKay, B.M and H. Veltmeyer. (2020). ‘Agro-industry and agro-extractivism’ in Haroon Akram Lodhi, Kristina Dietz, Bettina Engels and Ben M. McKay (eds) The Edward Elgar Handbook of Critical Agrarian Studies. Chelmsford: Edward Elgar. (accepted and forthcoming).

McKay, B.M., R. Hall and J. Liu (2018). ‘The rise of BRICS and its implications for global agrarian transformation’ in McKay, B.M, R. Hall and J. Liu (Eds.) Rural Transformations and Agro-Food Systems: The BRICS and Agrarian Change in the Global South (Ch.1). New York: Routledge.

McKay, B.M., A. Alonso-Fradejas, Z.W. Brent, S. Sauer and Y. Xu. (2018) ‘China and Latin America: towards a new consensus of resource control?’, in McKay, B.M, R. Hall and J. Liu (Eds.) Rural Transformations and Agro-Food Systems: The BRICS and Agrarian Change in the Global South (Ch.2). New York: Routledge.

McKay, B. and C. Colque. (2018) Bolivia’s soy complex: the development of ‘productive exclusion’’, in Oliveira, G. de L.T. and S.B Hecht (eds.) Soy, Globalization, and Environmental Politics in South America (Ch.14). New York: Routledge.

McKay, B., R. Nehring, and M. Walsh-Dilley. (2015) The ‘state’ of food sovereignty in Latin America: political projects and alternative pathways in Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia’, in Edelman, M., T. Weis, A. Baviskar, S.M. Borras Jr., E. Holt-Gimenez, D. Kandiyoti and W. Wolford (Eds.) Critical Perspectives on Food Sovereignty: Global Agrarian Transformations, Volume 2. New York: Routledge.

McKay, B., Alonso Fradejas, A., Wang, C. & Borras, S.M. (2014). Contested Land Politics and Trajectories of Agrarian Change within an Emergent World Agro-commodity Regime: Insights from the BRICS and the Periphery. In W.D. Schanbacher (Ed.), The Global Food System: Issues and Solutions (pp. 211-242). Santa Barbara, California: Praeger.

Reports, Working Papers and Policy Briefs

McKay, B.M. (2018). ‘From campesinos to agromineros: exploring the convergences and contradictions between neo-extractivism and food sovereignty in Bolivia’, BICAS Working Paper. Brasilia, Brazil: BRICS Initiative for Critical Agrarian Studies (BICAS) and UnB.

McKay, B. (2017) ‘Redistributive Land Policies for Inclusive Growth and Poverty Eradication’, Paper prepared for the Division of Social Policy and Development (DSPS), United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs UNDESA. https://www.un.org/development/desa/dspd/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2017/04/Benedict-Mckay-Redistributive-Land-Policies-UN.pdf

McKay, B., F.V. Rodríguez Muñoz, and D. Fajardo. (2016). ‘The Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security in Colombia: Towards democratic land-based resource control’, Commissioned Report for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO: Rome. Available in Spanish.

McKay, B. (2015) ‘BRICS and MICs in Bolivia’s ‘value’-chain agriculture’, Working Paper 6: BRICS Initiative for Critical Agrarian Studies (BICAS).

McKay, B., Sauer, S., Richardson, B. & Herre, R. (2014). The politics of sugarcane flexing in Brazil and beyond, Think Piece Series on Flex Crops & Commodities, no 4. Amsterdam: Transnational Institute.

McKay, B. and R. Nehring (2014) ‘Sustainable Agriculture: An assessment of Brazil’s family farm programmes in scaling up agroecological food production’, Working Paper #123, International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth, United Nations Development Programme, Brasilia, Brazil. Available in Spanish.

McKay, B. and R. Nehring (2013) ‘The 'State' of Food Sovereignty in Latin America: Political Projects and Alternative Pathways in Venezuela, Ecuador, and Bolivia’, Food Sovereignty: A Critical Dialogue, Yale University International Conference: New Haven, Connecticut.

Nehring, R. and B. McKay (2013) ‘Scaling up Local Development Initiatives: Brazil’s Food Acquisition Programme’, Working Paper #106, International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth, United Nations Development Programme, Brasilia, Brazil. Available in Spanish and Portuguese.

McKay, B. (2012) ‘A Socially Inclusive Pathway to Food Security: The Agroecological Alternative’, Policy Research Brief #23,International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth, United Nations Development Programme, Brasilia, Brazil.

Lal, R., R. Nehring and B. McKay (2012) “Public Policies for Inclusive and Sustainable Agriculture: an Emerging Agenda for South-South Cooperation?’ in IPC-IG Poverty in Focus #24. International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth, United Nations Development Programme, Brasilia, Brazil.

Other

McKay, B. and R. Nehring (2012) ‘Rio+20: Prospects for The Future We Want”, Revista Humana, Edition No. 85, August, United Nations Development Programme. Available from <http://www.revistahumanum.org/boletin/n85.pdf>

McKay, B. (2012) Agrarian Reform Under Chavez: Assessing the Impacts of Venezuela's State-led Agrarian Reform Programme on Rural Livelihoods. MA Dissertation. Halifax, NS: Saint Mary's University.

Guest Editor, Globalizations (with Gustavo Oliveira and. Juan Liu)

Special Issue: Beyond land grabs: new insights on land struggles and global agrarian change (2021)

Guest Editor, Canadian Journal of Development Studies (with Gustavo Oliveira and. Juan Liu)

Special Issue: Nationalism, Resistance, and Agrarian Change in a Multipolar World (2020)

Guest Editor, Third World Thematics: A TWQ Journal (with Ruth Hall and Juan Liu)                                                           

Special Issue: The rise of BRICS and its Implications for Global Agrarian Transformations (2016)

Editorial Committee (with Saturnino M. Borras Jr., Ben Cousins, Juan Liu and Gustavo Oliveira).

BRICS Initiative for Critical Agrarian Studies (BICAS) Working Paper Series

• Courses
• Supervised Students