ABSTRACT
This volume has provided a rich set of empirical evidence from ten countries on the impact of land reform policies on poverty reduction and social exclusion. The ten countries examined were: Armenia, Bolivia, Brazil, Egypt, Ethiopia, Namibia, the Philippines, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Zimbabwe. The purpose of this concluding chapter is twofold. On the one hand, it seeks to synthesise the principal findings from the case studies in order to develop a critical assessment that highlights areas of commonality and difference between country case studies and that demonstrates how complex social relationships predicated upon access to and use of land impact on growth, poverty and social exclusion among the rural population. On the other hand, it seeks to demonstrate how the country case studies show that the state, civil society and the character of production are not separate analytical categories but rather factors that are inherently linked to each other by their association with the politics and economics of land resources. As such, it is argued, the relationship between production, the state and society offers a useful framework from which to evaluate the conditions necessary for a successful land reform, when it is placed within the underlying structural context of the distribution of property, power and privilege which, in this instance, is predicated upon the control of land and other non-land productive assets. In undertaking this dual purpose, then, this conclusion shall provide comparative evidence and analytical implications on the strengths and weaknesses of current land reform policy strategies and implementation approaches, which are, of course, embedded within the broader development strategies of governments.
