Agrarian reform as a model of accumulation : the case of Nicaragua since 1979

The revolutionary transformation of economy and society in Nicaragua, since the overthrow of the Somoza dynasty in 1979 by the Frente Sandinista de Liberacion Nacional, has necessarily involved a profound agrarian reform. The author characterizes the main elements of agrarian transformation as a model of accumulation, so as to look beyond the short-term redistributive consequences, towards the implications for future development, the relation to the international division of labour and the expansion of productive capacity