Making space for living and livelihoods in Vietnam: The everyday politics of peri‐urban land use

Information from the abstract

Preserving agricultural land for rice cultivation in Vietnam is a national priority. Yet in many areas, farmers continue to repurpose rice land for non‐agricultural uses in violation of state regulations. Drawing on the conceptual framework of ‘everyday politics’ (EP), this paper examines this tension through research conducted in two peri‐urban communes outside Hanoi. It argues that agricultural development objectives are frequently misaligned with broader rural development goals and the material aspirations and livelihood strategies of local households. The paper shows how rural households circumvent the laws on land use and why commune authorities, despite being tasked with policy enforcement, often choose to informally tolerate such practices. The experiences of the communes show how centrally formulated land‐use policies are finessed at the local level, in the everyday political actions of ordinary rural households. Building on this empirical analysis, we develop the concept of ‘everyday politics of accumulation’ where Vietnam's middle‐income status has changed everyday politics from a matter of survival to a question of prosperity, while remaining embedded within the constraints of a one‐party state.

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Related topics: Agriculture, Land Use, Rural Development · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies · Urban Agriculture and Sustainability