Cooperation, communalism and individualism: rural development and land settlement schemes in Jamaica and Fiji

The experiences of rural development strategy in the form of land settlement schemes are presented for two developing island states - Jamaica and Fiji. The Jamaican case shows the transformation process of a cooperative settlement scheme, based on a shift from collectivism to a group-farming form of production. The Fijian case presents the shift to individualism which occurred in the production system of a communal village. Both cases started as state-initiated projects and in time became unsuccessful because of what can be characterized as a top-bottom approach to project implementation. After the scheme was transformed, goals were redefined by the settlers, and different principles which better suited both local conditions and settlers' expectations were applied. -from Authors