ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines a broad view of the social and economic origins of land colonization policy in the contemporary context. This broad view shows that the patrimonial state plays a crucial role in the origin of land colonization policy assuming that a land frontier exists. It is relevant to Nepal's frontier settlement policy and its effects on hill migrants who have relocated to the Tarai region. Most underdeveloped countries represent a weak state whose authority is embedded in the system of patrimonialism rather than derived from the electoral base. Today, the relatively young and weak state in the Third World with a deep-rooted colonial history and legacy is equally active in the process of national development. Foreign aid includes both public and private capital flows in the form of investment, loans, and grants to Third World governments.
