Death of land reform? New issues, new coalitions, venerable objectives

It is generally accepted that in rural societies the surest way to poverty reduction is through reforming the property system. What political conditions are required for democratic states to tackle poverty through land reform? Can conventional agrarian reform theory learn from the biological revolution and incorporate the energies of new social movements?

A paper from the Institute of Development Studies regrets that agrarian reform has slipped from the post Cold War development agenda. While recognising that previous statist land reforms have often increased state power and patronage in ways inconsistent with democratisation, it argues that the extent of landlessness, land utilisation and rural under-employment demands a policy response. Policymakers should not be afraid to buck neo-liberal orthodoxy and use the clout of the state to tackle rural inequalities. They also need to harness the power of new social movements which have emerged around issues of environmental integrity, women's rights, human rights and cultural survival.

The report takes issue with the argument that agrarian reform, however desirable in theory, is politically impossible. It finds several grounds for optimism. The increased mobilisation of women is adding a political force for redistribution. The proliferation of NGOs, their legitimation by donors and the demise of Latin America's military regimes are exposing authoritarian forces which have routinely repressed agrarian movements. Urbanisation has reduced the political salience of agricultural land ownership for national elites. As technological change in agriculture offers scope for lowering the subsistence threshold size of holdings the scale of necessary redistribution may thus be smaller and more politically feasible.

Land reform literature and policy discussions have been blind to the gendered nature of property. In many states progressive international stances on women's issues are at odds with the imbedded gender bias of land reformers. The assumption that benefits accruing to poor male household heads will flow to family members is flawed. The worldwide phenomenon of privatisation and/or degradation of the commons is particularly impacting women.

Among the other observations in this wide-ranging review of reform processes are:

· Kerala' s success in reducing poverty via social democratic mobilisation of the poor include lessons applicable to societies without such a strong agrarian left.

· The extent of elite co-option of resources or leakages into corruption or patronage politics are rarely noted by states and agencies which use expenditures on pro-poor programmes as problematic proxies for progress in poverty alleviation.

· New peasant movements may have different tactics, idioms and relationships with established political parties, but otherwise exhibit continuities of analysis and personnel with previous land struggles.

The report calls on governments, international and bi-lateral development institutions to recognise that:

· Social democracy works better when accompanied by asset redistribution.

· Much nominally state property is ripe for distribution to the poor who may prove to be better than the state at preventing environmental degradation and preserving biodiversity.

· Regeneration of the commons as a natural resource base is restorative of security and opportunity for weaker sectors within households and across classes.

Source(s):
'Political conditions for agrarian reform and poverty alleviation', Discussion Paper #375, Institute of Development Studies, by Ronald J. Herring, 1999

Funded by: Department for International Development, UK

id21 Research Highlight: 12 April 2002

Further Information:
Ronald J. Herring
Cornell University
Ithaca
New York 14583
USA

Contact the contributor: rjh5@cornell.edu

Cornell University, USA

Other related links:
'Unfinished business: the politics of land reform in southern Africa'

'Chiefs and lairds: land reform in Africa and Scotland'

'Modern land rights for South Africa? The case for land reform'

FAO focuses on land tenure issues

See also the Land Tenure Centre at the University of Wisconsin-Madison

More from the Land Policy Network at the World Bank