Algeria's Socialist Villages – a Reassessment

Keith Sutton

doi:10.1017/S0022278X00056032

Algeria's Socialist Villages – a Reassessment

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 November 2008

Keith Sutton

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It is generally acknowledged that a policy of agrarian reform involves much more than the mere redistribution of land to obtain an equitable system of production. A parallel and essential supporting range of complementary institutions usually need to be reorganised at the same time, concerned with credit, marketing, extension, and settlement, so that they can further rather than constrain and negate the reform. The old skewed land-holding structure, especially if involving latifundia estates, has probably contributed to a particular pattern of rural settlement that is quite inappropriate to cope with the more equitable distribution of land, unless large private estates are directly converted into state or multi-member farms. The beneficiaries of reform frequently need resettling on or near their newly-acquired land, and associated co-operative agencies for equipment, inputs, and marketing, together with programmes to provide basic social and commercial services, may well call for a nucleated form of settlement to be created.

Type: Articles
Information: The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 22 , Issue 2 , June 1984 , pp. 223 - 248

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022278X00056032 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1984

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^{page 223 note 1} King, Russell, Land Reform: the Italian experience (London, 1973), ch. 1;Google Scholar and Jacoby, E. H., Man and Land: the fundamental issue in development (London, 1971), p. 278.Google Scholar

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^{page 224 note 1} Boumaza, Nadir, ‘Politique de l'habitat rural et aménagement du territoire en Algérie’, in Société Languedocienne de géographic. Bulletin (Montpellier), 10, I, 1976, pp. 33–52;Google ScholarMaurer, Gérard, ‘Les Villages socialistes en Algérie’, in Équipe de recherche associée No. 706, Urbanuation et nouvelle organisation des campagnes au Maghreb (Poitiers, 1979), Centre interuniversitaire d'études méditerranéennes, Fascicule de recherche No. 5, pp. 105–16;Google ScholarLepoul, Georges, ‘1000 Villages socialistes en Algérie’, in Maghreb-Machrek (Paris), 77, 1977, pp. 40–8;Google ScholarBenachenou, Abdellatif, L'Exode rural en Algérie (Algiers, 1979), pp. 108–26;Google Scholar and Sutton, Keith, ‘The Socialist Villages of Algeria’, in Third World Planning Review (Liverpool), 4, 3, 1982, pp. 247–64.Google Scholar

^{page 224 note 2} Commision national de la révolution agraire, Instruction relative á l'élaboration d'un project de carte d'implantation des villages de la révolution agraire (Algiers, 1972), pp. 2–3.Google Scholar

^{page 224 note 3} Sutton, , ‘The Socialist Villages of Algeria’, pp. 249–50.Google Scholar

^{page 225 note 1} Adair, Philippe, ‘Economic politique de l'habitat rural: les “villages socialistes” algériens’, in Espaces et sociétés (Paris), 41, 1982, pp. 39–49.Google Scholar Also Commissariat national aux recensements et enquêtes statistiques, Recensement général de la population et de l'habitat,1977. Tableaux et premières analyses globales (Algiers, 1978), Série B, Vol. 1, pp. 16–17.Google Scholar

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^{page 226 note 1} Lepoul, loc.cit. pp. 42–3.

^{page 226 note 2} Burgat, François, ‘Villages socialistes algériens à l'épreuve des réalités’, in Maghreb-Machrek, 86, 1979, p. 57.Google Scholar

^{page 227 note 1} Lepoul, loc.cit. pp. 43–6.

^{page 227 note 2} Ibid. p. 44.

^{page 227 note 3} Burgat, loc.cit. p. 58.

^{page 227 note 4} Lepoul, loc.cit. p. 44.

^{page 227 note 5} Sutton, Keith and Lawless, R. I., ‘Population Regrouping in Algeria: traumatic change and the rural settlement system’, in Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers (London), 3, 3, 1978, p. 348.Google Scholar

^{page 227 note 6} Burgat, loc.cit. p. 60.

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^{page 229 note 1} Adair, loc.cit. p. 43.

^{page 229 note 2} Ibid. p. 42.

^{page 229 note 3} Sutton, Keith, ‘Agrarian Reform in Algeria. Progress in the Face of Disappointment, Dilution and Diversion’, in Jones, Steve, Joshi, P. C., and Murmis, Miguel (eds.), Rural Poverty and Agrarian Reform (New Delhi, 1982), ch. 15.Google Scholar

^{page 229 note 4} Adair, loc.cit. p. 44.

^{page 233 note 1} Adair, loc.cit. p. 44.

^{page 233 note 2} Maurer, loc.cit. p. 111.

^{page 233 note 3} Martin, M-C., ‘Perspectives de développement en Saoura’, in Maghreb-Machrek, 69, 1975, pp. 51–60.Google Scholar

^{page 234 note 1} Étude socio-économique sur les attributaires de la première phase de la révolution agraire.

^{page 234 note 2} A.A.R.D.E.S., Les Premiers villages socialistes - situation actuelle et perspectives (Algiers, 1978),Google Scholar and Études sur les villages socialistes. Données socio-économiques et conditions de logement (Algiers, 1978–1979?).Google Scholar See also I. N. E.A.P., Villages socialistes et révolution agraire. Les Problèmes de l'emploi et des revenus (Algiers, 1981),Google Scholar and Villages socialistes et système coopératif. L'Avenir économique des villages (Algiers, 1982).Google Scholar

^{page 234 note 3} E.g. Touat, Ammar, ‘Villages socialistes et système coopératif. Réorganisation du procès de travail agricole et revalorisation du statut des paysans: le point de la situation actuelle’, in I.N.E.A.P., Débats et critiques (Algiers), 3–4, 1980, pp. 530–52.Google Scholar

^{page 234 note 4} See Lesbet, Djaffar, ‘La Politique des milles villages socialistes en Algérie’, Thèse de troisième cycle, Instit d'Urbanisme de l'Académie de Paris, 1979, Vols. 1 and 2, and Les 1000 villages socialistes en Algérie (Paris and Algiers, 1983). The author gratefully acknowledges the loan by this scholar of his thesis, and the chance to discuss the A.A.R.D.E.S./I.N.E.A.P. research projects while in Algiers in April 1983.Google Scholar

^{page 234 note 5} Burgat, , loc.cit. and ‘Des Villages pas comme les autres?’, in Autrement (Paris), 38, 1982, pp. 187–94;Google Scholar Maurer, loc.cit. and Adair, loc.cit.; and Haider, Fadela, ‘Effets et limites de la politique d'habitat en milieu rural’, in I.N.E.A.P., Développement rural et catégories intellectuelles - le cas de la révolution agraire en Algérie (Algiers, c. 1981–1982), pp. 77–92.Google Scholar

^{page 234 note 6} Lesbet, op.cit. p. 208.

^{page 234 note 7} Adair, loc.cit. p. 42.

^{page 234 note 8} Lepoul, loc.cit. pp. 45–6.

^{page 235 note 1} Field visit in April 1983 by the author.

^{page 235 note 2} Lesbet, op.cit. pp. 136–71.

^{page 235 note 3} Ibid. p. 199.

^{page 235 note 4} Burgat, loc.cit. 1979, p. 57.

^{page 236 note 1} Haider, loc.cit. p. 87.

^{page 236 note 2} Sutton, Keith, ‘Agricultural Co-operatives in Algeria’, in Yearbook of Agricultural Cooperation,1981 (Oxford, 1982), pp. 169–90.Google Scholar

^{page 236 note 3} Touat, Ammar, ‘Le Cadre organisationnel du développement agricole. Le Cas de la révolution agraire en Algérie’, in I.N. E.A. P., Développement rural et catégories intellectuelles, pp. 18–50.Google Scholar

^{page 238 note 1} Lesbet, op.cit. pp. 314–15; and Noui-Mehidi, Kamel, ‘The Peasants Point of View: an experiment in Algeria’, in African Environment (Dakar), 2, 1 – 2, 1976, pp. 159–66.Google Scholar

^{page 238 note 2} Adair, loc.cit. p. 45.

^{page 238 note 3} A.A.R.D.E.S., op.cit. c. 1978–1979, p. 38.

^{page 238 note 4} Ibid. 1978, p. 6.

^{page 238 note 5} Ibid. 1975, pp. 12–13.

^{page 238 note 6} Lesbet, op.cit. p. 317.

^{page 239 note 1} A.A.R.D.E.S., op.cit. 1978, p. 28.

^{page 239 note 2} Haider, loc.cit. p. 82.

^{page 239 note 3} Burgat, op.cit. 1979, pp. 56–62.

^{page 240 note 1} A.A.R.D.E.S., op.cit. 1978, pp. 70–5.

^{page 240 note 2} Ibid.c. 1978–1979, p. 130.

^{page 240 note 3} Ibid. 1978, pp. 18–20.

^{page 240 note 4} Adair, loc.cit. p. 46.

^{page 240 note 5} Lesbet, op.cit. pp. 401–12.

^{page 241 note 1} A.A.R.D.E.S., op.cit. 1978, p. 25.

^{page 241 note 2} Lesbet, op.cit. pp. 630–1.

^{page 241 note 3} Ibid. p. 534.

^{page 242 note 1} Ibid. pp. 347–8.

^{page 242 note 2} Ibid. p. 354.

^{page 242 note 3} Lepoul, , loc.cit. p. 46.Google Scholar

^{page 242 note 4} Adair, , loc.cit. p. 47, and Burgat, loc.cit. c.1979, p. 61.Google Scholar

^{page 242 note 5} A.A.R.D.E.S. loc.cit. c. 1978–1979, pp. 78–83.

^{page 243 note 1} Ibid. pp. 85–92 and 126. See also Adair, loc.cit. p. 46.

^{page 243 note 2} Mutin, Georges, ‘Un Nouveau village socialiste en Mitidja: Beni Chougrane-Tamesguida’, in Urbanisation et nouvelle organisation des campagnes au Maghreb, p. 124.Google Scholar

^{page 243 note 3} A.A.R.D.E.S., op.cit. 1978, pp. 196–8.

^{page 245 note 1} Ibid. pp. 65–70.

^{page 245 note 2} Burgat, , loc. cit. 1979, p. 60.Google Scholar

^{page 246 note 1} Ibid. 1982, p. 190; and Sutton, Keith, ‘The Influence of Military Policy on Algerian Rural Settlement’, in Geographical Review (New York), 71, 4, 1981, pp. 379–94.Google Scholar

^{page 246 note 2} Sutton and Lawless, loc.cit.

^{page 246 note 3} Adair, loc.cit. p. 44.

^{page 246 note 4} Sutton, , ‘The Socialist Villages of Algeria’, pp. 254–5.Google Scholar

^{page 246 note 5} Lesbet, , op.cit. p. 636. Also interview with Lesbet at Bordj el Kiffan, near Algiers, in April 1983.Google Scholar

^{page 246 note 6} Interview with Ammar Touat at I.N.E.A.P., Algiers, in April 1983.

^{page 246 note 7} Interview with Lesbet at Bordj el Kiffan.

^{page 246 note 8} Interview with Aït Ouada at M.P.A.T., Algiers, in April 1983.

^{page 247 note 1} Haider, , loc. cit. pp. 77–8.Google Scholar

^{page 247 note 2} L' Annuaire statistique de l' Algérie, 1980, pp. 67–72.

^{page 247 note 3} Relph, Edward, Place and Placelessness (London, 1976).Google Scholar

^{page 247 note 4} A.A.R.D.E.S., op. cit. 1978, pp. 57 and 199–213.

^{page 248 note 1} Lepoul, loc. cit. p. 47.

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Algeria's Socialist Villages – a Reassessment

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