land reform

land reform, a purposive change in the way in which agricultural land is held or owned, the methods of cultivation that are employed, or the relation of agriculture to the rest of the economy. Reforms such as these may be proclaimed by a government, by interested groups, or by revolution.

The concept of land reform has varied over time according to the range of functions which land itself has performed: as a factor of production, a store of value and wealth, a status symbol, or a source of social and political influence. Land value reflects its relative scarcity, which in a market economy usually depends on the ratio between the area of usable land and the size of that area’s population. As the per capita land area declines, the relative value of land rises, and land becomes increasingly a source of conflict among economic and social groups within the community.

The patterns of wealth and income distribution and of social and political influence are partly determined by the laws governing land tenure. These laws specify the acceptable forms of tenure and the privileges and responsibilities that go with them. They define the land title and the extent to which the owner can freely dispose of it and of the income accruing from its use. In this sense, the form of tenure determines the wealth and income distribution based on the land: if private ownership is permitted, class differentiation is unavoidable; in contrast, public ownership eliminates such distinctions. The forms of tenure range from temporary, conditional holding to ownership in fee simple, which confers total unencumbered rights of control and disposal over the land.

Historically, land reform meant reform of the tenure system or redistribution of the land ownership rights. In recent decades the concept has been broadened in recognition of the strategic role of land and agriculture in development. Land reform has therefore become synonymous with agrarian reform or a rapid improvement of the agrarian structure, which comprises the land tenure system, the pattern of cultivation and farm organization, the scale of farm operation, the terms of tenancy, and the institutions of rural credit, marketing, and education. It also deals with the state of technology, or with any combination of these factors, as shown by modern reform movements, regardless of the political or ideological orientation of the reformers.

Reform is usually introduced by government initiative or in response to internal and external pressures, to resolve or prevent an economic, social, or political crisis. Thus reform may be considered a problem-solving mechanism. The true motives for reform, however, may well differ from those announced by the reformer. The distinction between the real and proclaimed objectives may be especially significant if the proclaimed objectives have been forced upon reformers who do not support those objectives. The reformers may proclaim certain objectives merely to appease the peasants, to undermine opposition, to win international backing, or to safeguard their own positions. The proclaimed purposes of land reform, however, will be the point of departure in this article.

The most common proclaimed objective of land reform is to abolish feudalism, which usually means overthrowing the landlord class and transferring its powers to the reforming elite or its surrogates. If “foreigners” happen to be among the landlord class, the objectives become the defeat of imperialism and the end of foreign exploitation.

Another common objective is to free the peasants from subjugation to and dependence on the exploiters and make them active citizens by restoring what assertedly had been taken away from them.

A third objective is to create democracy—a stated purpose of both capitalist and, in the 20th century, communist reformers. Most capitalist reforms are based on the premise that individual private ownership in the form of independent family farms will promote and sustain democratic institutions.

Communist reformers, in contrast, usually aimed at overthrowing both feudalism and capitalism on the premise that, as a means of production, private ownership of land inherently breeds exploitation. In practice, this meant “returning land to the tillers” and creating a classless, democratic society. A more immediate and practical goal of communist reformers was to rally the peasants in support of the new order and against the former regime.

Finally, reform may be introduced simply as the most expedient way to resolve a crisis or avoid a revolution. The reformer, in this case, will introduce and implement just enough reform to appease the peasants and contain the conflict. This happens especially when the reformers are still in sympathy with the landlord class and consciously prefer a moderate rather than a radical reform.

These political objectives tend to undergo change during the period of implementation and are, therefore, kept vague enough to permit flexibility and modification as conditions change.

All land reforms emphasize the need to improve the peasants’ social conditions and status, to alleviate poverty, and to redistribute income and wealth in their favour. They try to create employment opportunities and education and health services and to redistribute the benefits to the community at large, the younger generation as the main target.

Economic development has become a major objective of governments and political parties in recent decades. Efforts have been made to encourage agricultural progress by means of agrarian reform in favour of the peasant who does not own his land or whose share of the crop is relatively small, and who therefore has little incentive to invest capital or expend effort to improve the land and raise productivity. Another mechanism has been to encourage labour-intensive cultivation, on the assumption that traditional or feudal landowners often use their land extensively and wastefully.

An equally important economic objective is to promote optimum-scale farming operations. Excessively large farms (latifundia) and excessively small farms (minifundia) tend to be inefficient. Therefore, reform aims at creating farms of optimum size given the land quality, the crop, and the level of technology.

Finally, reform aims at coordinating agriculture with the rest of the economy. In their quest for economic development and industrialization, reformers attempt to make the rural sector more responsive to the needs of the industrial sector for labour, food, industrial raw materials, capital, and foreign currency. These functions are often expected to be performed simultaneously.