LAND TENURE AND SOCIOECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
FRITHJOF KUHNEN
Director, Institute for World Agriculture,
Göttingen University
Agrarian structure, both the conditions of land tenure as
well as the conditions of land operation, within a specific
period of time and in a specific place is the combination
of man, land, and technology under the prevailing economic,
socio-cultural, and ecological conditions. As these are changing,
agrarian structures ' have to frequently change and adjust
to new conditions and requirements. The absence of such a
change has consequences for agricultural production, rural
development, and the political and social order in the society.
In this world, there are quite different land tenure systems.
These tenure systems have developed under the influence of
natural factors (climate, soil conditions, topography) and
sociocultural factors (value systems, political ideologies,
technological levels, population development, changes in price/cost
relation, etc.). As these factors vary from country to country
and from time to time, and are so intrinsic parts of cultures,
in the case of land tenure issues it is very difficult to
transfer experiences from one country to the other.
Keeping this limitation in mind, the first part of the paper
briefly discusses changes in the relation between man and
land in Germany during the period of transition from a rural
to an industrial society. Part II reviews the historical development
of the relation between man and land in Korea. Having merely
the task of indicating the broad differences between the German
and Korean historical backgrounds, it neglects minor controversial
opinions on the history of land tenure in Korea, of which
the author is aware. Part III outlines a number of current
issues in the relation between man and land in Korea as seen
by the author.
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