Food, States, And Peasants : Analyses Of The Agrarian Question In The Middle East

One of the most serious problems facing the Middle East and North Africa · is the region's growing inability to feed its expanding population. Rapidly escalating demand has made the region highly dependent on food imports, and policy initiatives intended to increase domestic production have met with mixed success at best. The contributors to this volume examine the historical origins of state policies toward agriculture, recent policy changes and their effects on domestic supply, and the social and political implications of these shifts. Focusing on the region's largest agricultural economies, contributors analyze Turkey's strong performance as well as Egypt's weak response to its agricultural problems. Pricing, investment strategies, irrigation policies, and the impact of large-scale labor migration on agricultural sectors are discussed, and a common theme of the interplay between politics and economics runs throughout. Cover Half Title About the Book and Editor Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Page Contents List of Tables and Figures Acknowledgments Chapter 1: Introduction History: States, Landlords, and Peasants Chapter 2: Agrarian Relations in Turkey: A Historical Sketch Chapter 3: Large Landowners, Agricultural Progress and the State in Egypt, 1800-1970: An Overview with Many Questions The Political Economy of Supply: Taxes and Subsidies Chapter 4: Agricultural Support Policies in Turkey, 1950-1980: An Overview Chapter 5: Agricultural Price Support Policies in Turkey: An Empirical Investigation Chapter 6: Taxation, Control, and Agrarian Transition in Rural Egypt: A Local-Level View The Political Economy of Demand: Food Subsidies and Political Conflict Chapter 7: Food Subsidies and State Policies in Egypt Chapter 8: Politics and the Price of Bread in Tunisia The Transformation of the Agricultural Labor Force Chapter 9: Migration and Labor Transformation in Rural Turkey Chapter 10: Rural Labor Markets in Egypt A Note on the Contributors