ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the return of land fragmentation in central and eastern Europe. It shows the transition produced millions of new smallholdings that were ill fitted for the European single market. The restructuring of the rural economy reflects major changes in governmentality in the regionthe struggles over decentralization, the creation of intermediate bodies and the sometimes ambivalent role of the European Union (EU). The chapter argues that, despite their efforts, the program to bring about rural reform based on land consolidation largely failed. It explores what this reveals about the changing nature of land relations and the new institutional landscape of central and eastern Europe. Farm development policy was preferred over rural development policy even though the numbers actively engaged in farming continued to decline. Although the postsocialist economic and demographic context was very different and land reforms varied significantly, the problem of an excess of smallholdings emerged as a difficult issue and one with wider implications.
