ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a consideration of a few well-known rural development (RD) cases. The cases deal with the full range of RD sponsors and facilitators, from non-government organizations through to national governments and international aid agencies. They cover two major social formations agrarian capitalism and incipient socialism (in the Tanzania case) – and a number of intermediary types as well, such as cooperatives. Two cases are clear successes (Amul and Ayni Ruway), one is a distinct failure (Ujamaa) and two are seeming fiascoes that at least in one case (Community Development and Panchayati Raj) may be turning into a success, while in the other (Cornilla) some few signs of longer-term success are beginning to be discernable. The Community Development and Panchayati Raj programs have been instrumental in promoting some positive economic and social change in the Indian countryside. The five cases are geographically dispersed, dealing with subjects in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
