Policy Evaluation - the Main Features of the Agrarian Reforms in Chile

Policy Evaluation

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University

Policy Evaluation

Introduction

The idea of the research proposal is the study of the experience of the agrarian reforms in the developing country of Latin America. The author considers the process of the reforms’ implementation, the issues and risks, which took place during this process. The article also provides the evaluation of economic and political results of the changes in agrarian structure, the good and harm of changes for different classes of society.

Research Problem Statement

The main subject of this research is the evaluation of the agrarian reforms processes in the developing country, the definition of the reforms’ implementation results and their impact on the basic socio-economic processes in the state. The research and estimation of positive and negative experience of other countries in the question of agriculture policy is important due to the existence of various problems of the underdeveloped countries, whose economies’ basis is the agricultural sector. The definition of the issues and mistakes, which can occur during the reforms’ implementation period, allow us to avoid such problems in future and to achieve better results in the development of the backward countries.

 The object of this research is the process of agrarian transformation in Chile, which took place in 1967-1979. The inconsistency of implemented reforms, determined by the absence of political stability during the reforms’ period, forces us to study the process of agrarian transformation in Chile closely, to make correct judgments about the methods of the changes’ realization. The experience of this country is significantly useful in terms of definitions of the basic requirements that must be met in the planning and implementation of agrarian reform in a developing country.

The Main Features of the Agrarian Reforms in Chile

It’s considered to be that the cause of the beginning of agrarian reforms in Chile was the intention of the government to provide opportunities for the rapid growth of the national economy, which was inhibited by the monopoly of wealthier segments of the population on the means of production. The just redistribution of land should have also raised the low living standards of the majority of the population.

The agrarian reform in Chile consisted of several stages and started in 1962, when the first land reform law was promulgated during the government of Jorge Alessandri. This law provided the opportunities for the distribution of state-owned lands among Chilean peasants. Among the reasons, which contributed to the changing process in the structure of land ownership in Chile, we need to distinguish the active position of the USA. According to Antonio Bellisario “The Kennedy strategy to induce agrarian modernization was to make any financial aid to Latin American countries conditional on the implementation of agrarian reform policies by the beneficiary countries” (2007, p.8). Nevertheless, the policy of Alessandri did not consider the expropriation as a means of land redistribution between the layers of the population. In this way, we cannot talk about significant changes in the current situation of land ownership.