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Discusses consequences of and currently proposed amendments to the 1969 Peruvian agrarian reform. Summary in English.

Agrarian Reform and Revolution in Attende's Chile.
The article argues that Popular Unity's agrarian policy reflects the limitations and contradictions of its strategy to power. Although Allende's agrarian reform was extensive, drastic and rapidly executed, it nevertheless limited the peasantry's contribution to the revolutionary struggle for power. The article starts by briefly examining the rural legacy left by the Christian Democrat government of Frei to the Popular Unity and presenting the agrarian programme of Allende. It proceeds with an analysis of peasant mobilisation and organisation, focusing on land seizures and peasants councils. Then it studies the organisation and functioning of the expropriated latifundia (reformed sector) and analyses why socialist relations of production failed to develop. Finally it attempts an assessment of Popular Unity's agrarian policy in the light of the failure of the revolutionary forces to capture power and initiate a transition to socialism in Chile.

Agrarian Reform in post-Soviet Russia : the Point of View of an Historian, Victor Danilov
Contrary to all expectations, Russian farmers did not receive favourably the agrarian reform which was supposed to free them at last. Far from taking advantage of the right given to them of leaving the Kolkhoz and Sovkhoz, they chose to adopt an attitude of open resistance to decollectivization. According to the author, the failure of the agrarian reform is explained in a large part by the «bureaucratic extremism» with which it was accomplished during the winter 1992-1993, and also by the extreme subdivision of the process of production and by the lack of support given to cooperative and individual formulas. The end of price controls and the deregulation of services increased the inequality between urban and rural areas. From Stolypin to Gorbachev, the transformation of the countryside has always been forced upon it from above. With no autonomy of management and no real freedom of choice, farmers remain victims of the Nomenklatura. The crisis in agriculture which is reflected in the general decrease of production opens a new era of uncertainty.

The uncertain course of agrarian reform in Russia.
In Russia to-day, liberals and conservatives are agreed in the view that the agrarian reform is a failure. However the crisis is analysed, it is clear that the agricultural policy introduced by the liberals in December 1991 has, so to speak, foundered amid a confusion of aims. In the present article, the authors are first of all examining the principles underlying the reform, and then its implementation, before stopping to consider the nature of the obstacles which reduced to uncertainty the aims of these reforms, as stated by the authorities. However, it will be seen that a new socio-economic structure is taking shape in Russian agriculture, whose two poles are represented by the « farmers », a sector which attracts those who are at present able to be assimilated by the market, and, on the other hand, collective bodies which have been « reorganized ».

Olivier DELAHAYE — Agrarian reform and land market : Evolution of agricultural land economics in the United States, and its influence in multilateral institutions
us land economics approach was reshaped through the 20th century, according to the evolution of domestic and foreign contexts. The freehold estate constitution let the place of land regulating main agent to the market. Land reform, become a central point in US foreign policy after World War II, was focused on from 1945, giving place to land market in the 1980s. Neo-institutionalist approaches about land market imperfections is renewing the reflection, in which are increasingly participating multilateral institutions.

Agricultural Development in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam
After outlining the amelioration in rural life resulting from nearly 30 years of agrarian reform, the author discusses the organization and management of cooperative farms. He then explains how peasant participation in various collective projects, particularly the construction of hydraulic systems, has developed and contributed to the diversification and intensification of agricultural activities. These improvements in addition to educational progress encouraging the application of technical innovations have greatly improved the standard of living of millions of peasants.

Between 1789 and 1794, the popular movement, through the claim for an agrarian reform and the regulation of first need goods, revealed the contradiction between political and economical liberty. The equalitarian movement set up a project of society applying the principals of liberty and equality to property. Contrary to what has been thought up to now, the robespierans were the leading theoriticians of that « popular economical policy », taking up and developping the project Mably had thought out in response to the attemps of libertuy of trade that had brought about the Guerre des Farines in 1775.
Florence GAUTHIER.

Peru 1968-80, materials on experiments in self-management.
Collection of informative articles on the structures and functioning of cooperative, co -and self -managed institutions set up in Peru during 1968-80 as part of a policy aiming to promote new economic development. A study is made of transformations which were undertaken in the agricultural sector (agrarian reform, creation of cooperatives and work/peasant communities) and in the industrial sector (labor communities, socially-owned enterprises, and enterprises managed by workers). A presentation of the largest socially-owned firm in Peru, Lima Metripolitane, follows (interview).

Alcides Gomez Jimenez — Colombia : The social context of rural property concentration at the end of the XXth century
An unprecedented phenomenon of land tenure concentration is occurring in rural Colombia. It brings about massive peasant evictions resulting in an increase of poverty and of disparity levels much worse than in cities. This extension of the latifundia is linked to drug trafficking. It uses violent methods of expropriation of the peasantry. As such, the transformation of agricultural land into pastures has been exaggerated, without a parallel increase in livestock. The livestock rearing zones hardly contribute to fiscal revenue and block the functioning of the land market. Agrarian reform in Columbia is as such waiting for its hour.

Taiwan has come a long way since 1949. The country now ranks high among developed nations in health, education & life expectancy, while its quality of life is one of the best in Asia. But this extraordinary success story is no "miracle," as is so often claimed. It is above all due to the hard work ethic of the Taiwanese, as well as proactive policies -- starting with successful agrarian reform & followed by massive investment in light industry, plus a series of highly effective national economic development plans completing the picture. After several decades of authoritarian rule, a democratization process kicked off in 1991, & has reached its conclusion. Now masters of their own destiny, the Taiwanese people naturally hope to play a greater role in the international arena. For the moment, this aspiration is mainly reflected in numerous initiatives by Taiwanese NGOs across the globe. Adapted from the source document.