Agrarian Developmentalism: The Politics of Agricultural Policy in Latin America

• In Event: (Re)distributive Policies, Elites and Non-elite Actors in Latin America

Abstract

Urban bias literature claims that governments extract from agriculture while industrializing. Yet, there is important variation in the type of policies and how much governments supported agriculture during this period. This paper proposes a typology of agricultural policy regimes during industrialization that combines both dimensions of support and extraction and explains why some governments adopted one strategy or the other. I argue that agrarian developmentalism–a development strategy where governments support agriculture vis-a-vis manufacturing—follows when party systems are not structured by urban rural cleavages and landowners have institutional veto powers. I carry out a comparative historical analysis of 20th century Colombia and Chile to show how the relevant variables matter to shape the politicians’ choice of development strategies. I use qualitative and quantitative methods to analyze original archival data collected over a year of fieldwork in the two countries.

Author

• Madai Urteaga Quispe, Harvard University