Market-led ‘agrarian reform’ in Brazil

Abstract

This article surveys the process of implementing the World Bank's market-led ‘agrarian reform’ model in Brazil and analyzes some of its consequences and effects. It places the model in a recent political context (the Cardoso administration, 1995–2002), explaining the opposition and criticism of land struggle movements and rural organizations. It questions the political and ideological arguments related to the model's persistence, particularly with regard to the decision to maintain the programme on the part of Luis Inácio Lula da Silva's administration after 2003.