ABSTRACT
This chapter uses Mali to explain the evolving dynamic between cotton production for the world market, environmental degradation and global development paradigms, in terms of two questions. The questions are how has cotton production policy in Mali changed over time and how does this evolution implicate globalization discourse? What have been the environmental impacts of cotton production and how is this problematized and solutions evoked within globalization discourse? The political ecology approach is important for unbundling the multi-scale, political, economic and environmental dynamics of cotton production. How, if at all, has the promotion of cotton production in Mali changed over time and what are the implications of this evolution for globalization theory? This question is handled in three sub-sections: the institutional context, the chronology of cotton production and the relationship between the state, global capital and cotton production. Kent Glenzer discusses the influence of international paradigms of human-environment relationships on interpretations of drought and ecological crisis in the Malian Sahel.
