Politics and Agrarian Reform Bureaucracies in Chile : 1962-1964.

An exploration of the political factors which conditioned the performance of the three government bureaucracies charged with the implementation of Chile's first agrarian reform law. Although the political environment in 1962 was certainly favorable to some dynamic action, the record is quite clear that little was accomplished, particularly in regard to land redistribution. With the transfer of party control in 1964, the entire orientation and spirit of the bureaucracies changed, supporting the view that not only did they work half-seriously to implement agrarian reform, but also, on occasion, directly benefited large landowners at the expense of reform. In the period 1962-1964, the landless peasant organizations could not compete in strength or numbers with those representing the landowners. The experience of Chilean politics leads to a view of the need for such groups as a means of forcing an inert or ineffective State apparatus to respond to the needs of the citizenry. 37 pp.