Three-quarters of the world's poor are the rural poor. Most rural poor people continue to rely on wild livelihoods for their incomes and reproduction despite the significant diversification of livelihoods in recent years.

The issue of land remains crucial in any development discourse today. Market-led agrarian reform (MLAR) has gained prominence since the early 1990s as an alternative to state-led reforms.

This neoliberal policy is based on the reflection of what its supporters see as the characteristics of previous approaches, and calls for redistribution through prohibited transactions and decentralization between "willing sellers" and "willing buyers". Its supporters, especially those associated with the World Bank, have claimed success in applying the policy, but such claims have been challenged by independent scientists as well as by peasant movements struggling to reach the land.

This book presents three thematic papers and six country studies. The thematic papers address issues of the formalization of property rights, land rights and neoliberal sex.

These studies show the widespread influence of neoliberal ideas on property rights and rural development discussions, far beyond the fundamental issue of land redistribution. Country experiences combine experiences from Brazil, Guatemala, El Salvador, the Philippines, South Africa and Egypt.

Common findings include the success of landowners in minimizing the impact of reform and the lack of post-transfer support, which translates into a marginal impact on poverty.

The limits of the market-driven approach and the implications of the studies presented here for the future of agrarian reform are taken into account in the introduction of editors.

This book was a special edition of World Third Quarterly.

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