ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the relationships between farmers, politics, and the state. It discusses the international financial institutions and the Government of Egypt (GoE) placement of too great an emphasis in the role that the state has played in agricultural modernisation. The chapter traces the background to him argument that it is especially important in understanding the outcome of economic reforms to recognise the dynamics of the countryside that sustain and transform the rural economy. Despite World Bank claims that it is arguing for a dynamic position for Egypt in the world economy, the agency and GoE positions adopted with regard to comparative advantage locate its agricultural expansion in products that are the object of fierce competition from neighbouring countries. For many years, blaming governments for poor economic performance has been part of the World Bank's ideological assault on developing countries. The village was an overwhelmingly homogeneous community, able to reproduce itself both economically and socially".
