Administration Of Integrated Rural Development Policy: The Politics of Agrarian Reform in Developing Countries

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Abstract
Integrated rural development has become the focus of growth with equity policies in developing countries. Evaluations of development programs and plans over the past two decades indicate that little change can be achieved in developing societies through single purpose policy interventions and that diversified and integrated programs aimed at increasing agricultural productivity and dispersing directly productive and social overhead investments in rural regions are essential for socially equitable economic growth. Because of their importance to emerging development strategies, this paper identifies and analyzes the political and administrative problems of planning and implementing integrated rural development programs. It reflects a sympathetic but skeptical view of the prospects for achieving rural development without fundamental political and administrative reforms. It suggests that unless governments in developing countries and international assistance agencies can resolve three crucial problems—those of mobilizing political commitment, restructuring administrative arrangements, and delivering basic services to the rural poor—integrated rural development may go the way of all previous development fads, and have little impact on intended beneficiaries.

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