Rural development and local organization in Asia / edited by Norman T. Uphoff

The studies contained in these three volumes were undertaken. by an interdisciplinary and international group researchers on rural development to address the question: how important are local institutions in raising agricultural productivity and improving the well-being of rural people?

In the process of dealing with this broad question, we com piled a set of case studies which we think will be helpful to students of rural development asking other questions as well, though we are also now more convinced than before that rural local organizations are essential for sustained, equitable development.

This set of studies should help readers take stock of different strategies and experiences across a broad geographic and ideological range, assessing the past so that our future can be more purposefully and more satisfactorily created.

The scope of the problem and of the research has led to a published product in which the 'introduction' starts one volume and the comparative analysis and 'conclusions' end in the pre sentation two volumes later. We hope that readers will combine their interest in specific cases with consideration of the analyti cal framework underlying this study and of the systematic comparisons and conclusions derived from it.

Many members of the Rural Development Committee at Cornell University contributed to this project, several directly by their writing, others more indirectly by their suggestions and critiques, and still others by contributing to the analysis of rural development in an inter-disciplinary, problem-oriented way that helps to illuminate some of the issues treated here.