BACK TO THE LAND - THE POLITICAL DILEMMAS OF AGRARIAN-REFORM IN NICARAGUA

Since the early 1960s, capitalist regimes in Latin America have employ ed agrarian reform to minimize peasant political mobilization. By maki ng minor adjustments in the agrarian social structure, reform Programs have instilled their beneficiaries with a stake in the existing socio political system. In contrast, socialist regimes have implemented agra rian reform in order to generate peasant support for social transforma tion through the redistribution of productive resources. This paper ex amines the political and economic impact of one agrarian reform projec t, the Los Patios project, carried out by the Sandinista government in Nicaragua. Through interviews with policymakers, a survey of the bene ficiary population, and analysis of data from Nicaragua's 1990 electio ns, the conclusion is drawn that Los Patios succeeded in improving its participants' economic position, but failed to gain their support for the government's socialist endeavor. Instead, project beneficiaries w ere transformed into peasant capitalists who sought a capitalist orien tation in government policymaking. This study suggests that efforts to initiate the transition to socialism are strongly conditioned by the complex relationship between economic development and politics.