Agrarian reform & agrarian reformism c.1

The origins of this volume lie in a study seminar held at the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex in early 1971, on the subject of 'Land Tenure, Distribution and Reform'. The seminar was attended by officials and academics concerned with land reform from a number of Asian and Latin American countries. Except for Ramón Zaldívar, all the con tributors to this book took part in the seminar.

In the path from the idea to the act of writing and publishing I have incurred many debts. The first is to the contributors them selves, who have suffered much chevying and pestering, and whose capacity for team-work is quite unusual for members of their pro fession. As a result, this is as nearly a co-operative volume as anyone could hope; we do not all agree on the solutions to the problems we raise, but we have been able to write our papers in the light of a common set of issues. The one paper which was not specifically written for this volume - that on Peru- offered such an original interpretation of the Peruvian process, that it ob viously had to be published. The paper originally appeared in Peru in Cuadernos Agrarios in 1971; a number of those involved in this publication have since been sacked from their university posts or imprisoned, or both. I wish here to express my thanks to

Ramón Zaldívar for allowing his work to be included. The production of this volume has been particularly smooth for the authors thanks to the efforts and bewildering patience of Margot Cameron, Rosemary Irving, Geraldine King and Carrie Stait.