The Neoliberal Inheritance: Agrarian Policy and Rural Differentiation in Democratic Chile
Bulletin of Latin American Research, (2002)Abstract
This paper critically appraises the core philosophies of the three Concertacion governments with respect to agrarian change and rural restructuring in Chile since 1990. It identifies common ideological ground in the successive administrations' perspectives on the nature and role of agriculture in the wider economy, arguing that a 'neoliberal inheritance>> has pervaded each. In drawing on primary and secondary data from the non-traditional fruit export sector the paper challenges the concept of reconversion as a panacea for rural under-development and grower failure. Given the simultaneously regionalising and globalising context which frames the Chilean transition, the paper highlights the tough choices that face policy makers at the current time. Developmental dilemmas are increasing in the sector, given the stated desire of the Concertacion governments to move beyond pure, efficiency-driven, neoliberalism towards the incorporation of equity and sustainability goals. After ten years of democratic transition it is timely to ask if policy shows any signs of moving beyond reconversion.