ABSTRACT
Urgent agrarian reforms are currently being considered around the world. However, many of those efforts do not always take their planned course, nor do they always succeed. Numerous examples come to mind. These include many of the former communist states of the Soviet-Union; in Asia (India and Pakistan, in particular); in Africa under comparatively homogeneous conditions (the Sahel Zone is a case in point); in Latin America (especially in Mexico, where agrarian reforms have a long tradition); and last - but not least - there are also the agrarian reforms in Mediterranean Europe, as well as in Central and Northern Europe. In the majority of those examples, the driving force for the planning of agrarian reforms has been the re distribution of agricultural areas (including the amalgamation of small plots) rather than the 'new' concerns of the preservation and conservation of the countryside and concerns for environmental protection. Thus, the dominant concern of agrarian reforms has largely been driven by the economic infrastructure. This paper will, however focus on the social infrastructure of agrarian reform, which has traditionally been of less interest.
