If we were to find the words to convey the philosophy underlying this issue of Land Reform, Land Settlement and Cooperatives, we could quote Fernand Braudel: "seeking the divergence, the contrast, the breaking point, the boundary.... What remains to explain is that which is different, the breakaways, the resistant fragments. It is a difficult task because the explanations may only be realized in the light of later clarifications: those of geography, of economics, of historical politics and of cultural studies. Nowadays, the human sciences speak in several registers, each of which is only able to capture a part of reality. However, this is but a first attempt: at best, it will serve to recognize the essential problems and to outline the basic explanations, those that are most obvious."
Consequently, the articles in this issue should be seen as elements of a new structure for which there is still no detailed plan. Readers will find comparative analyses of different theories regarding access to land in Africa, studies of the relationship between land access and utilization and, finally, articles covering the basics of the so-called systems approach, i.e. a participatory analysis of a situation at the outset, followed by the elaboration of a preliminary set of proposals to be submitted to different governments.
In these times of important changes, which have coincided with the 50th anniversary of our Organization, a normative department such as ours cannot miss the opportunity of reorienting its tools to serve its mandate better: that is, to promote and coordinate the public and private authorities concerned with development policies and programmer. That is why this bulletin constitutes a focal point for discussing accepted ideas, with the aim of raising readers' awareness of the emerging problems.
As an epigraph to this issue, we would like to recall an eminent figure, Josué de Castro, a Brazilian who, before anybody else, managed to highlight the social and political linkages of underdevelopment. We would like to give mention to Josué de Castro on the occasion of the forthcoming 50th anniversary of his world-famous book, The geography of hunger. It is not as former Chairman of the Council of FAO that we would like to remember him, but as a clear-minded, pragmatic and persistent fighter in the struggle against underdevelopment and as the example of a human trajectory, which may be a little less evident today but whose message remains a burning issue.