Abstract
This book has been written with the implied qualification ‘other things being equal’; that is to say, it assumes an environment in which the makers of policy sincerely wish both to increase general productivity and, as far as they can, to better the lot of the poorest among their people. Even more important, it assumes an environment in which this will be possible. It assumes that laws will be made, not for show, but with the intention of enforcing them. It assumes a sufficient degree of security of life and limb for poor farmers to find it worth their while to make the improvements that are recommended to them; perhaps this actually exists more widely than news reports, necessarily concentrating on what disturbs everyday life, lead us to imagine. It assumes a certain level of competence among bureaucrats which may actually be lacking, at any rate in some of the smaller third world countries; and a certain level of probity among foreign bringers of ‘help’. It assumes a willingness to tackle the many problems which ready made solutions have not solved. Who can tell how far, or where, in the third world, these conditions are fulfilled? I have written this book for those who hope, or wish, to see that they are.
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© 1984 Lucy Mair
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Mair, L. (1984). Envoi. In: Anthropology and Development. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-17445-4_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-17445-4_10
Publisher Name: Palgrave, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-333-36371-3
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