State and Countryside: Development Policy and Agrarian Politics in Latin America

What is responsible for the persistence of underdevelopment in rural Latin America? Merilee S. Grindle analyzes the role of public policies in stimulating agrarian change in Latin America from 1940 to 1980.
This book provides an interpretation of 4 decades of change in rural Latin America, exploring the relationship of capitalist expansion in agriculture to the plight of the rural poor and the deepening problem of underdevelopment. It is centrally concerned with analysing the role of state policies in stimulating capitalist forms of agricultural development and in managing the social unrest and dislocation caused by deteriorating conditions among Latin America's peasantry. It deals with the period from 1940 to 1980, with emphasis on the 1960s and 1970s. Assessing the cases of Mexico, Colombia and Brazil, it is concluded that state policies aimed at promoting development or reform have played critical and multifaceted roles in shaping current conditions. When policies such as agrarian reform and rural development are promoted, it is indicated that they are utilized primarily to increase social control rather than improve living standards among the rural poor