Land Reform and Bounded Rationality in the Middle East
Domestic Conquest: Land Reform and Bounded Rationality in the Middle East Matthew E. Goldman A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Washington 2015 Reading Committee: Reşat Kasaba, Chair Elizabeth Kier Clark Lombardi Program Authorized to Offer Degree: Near & Middle Eastern Studies ©Copyright 2015 Matthew E. Goldman University of Washington Abstract Domestic Conquest: Land Reform and Bounded Rationality in the Middle East Matthew E. Goldman Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Professor Reşat Kasaba Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies This dissertation examines the rise and fall of projects for land reform - the redistribution of agricultural land from large landowners to those owning little or none - in the Middle East in the mid 20th century, focusing on Egypt, Iraq, Palestine/Israel, Syria, and Turkey. Following the end of World War II, local political elites and foreign advisors alike began to argue that land reform constituted a necessary first rung on the ladder of modernization, a step that would lead to political consolidation, development, industrialization, and even democratization. Unfortunately, many land reform projects resulted in grave disappointments, leading to reduced agricultural output, increased rural poverty, political conflict, and more authoritarian rather than more democratic forms of government. As many policymakers and development experts themselves came to understand, an underlying cause of these problems was their failure to adjust land reform models to account for crucial variations in local political, economic, and ecological conditions. Using a method of similarity approach, this project asks why land reform projects so often sought to apply imported models in vastly different local contexts and then failed to adequately adjust these policy models to suit local realities.
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