Development and Agrarian Reform in the southern region of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

This book contributes to the debate on development and agrarian reform in Brazil. It begins by contextualizing the settlement implementation policy, which began in the 1990s, from a critical perspective on different approaches to development. The analysis then moves on to understanding the impacts of the implementation of settlements on the lives and development of settled families, considering a case study in the southern region of Rio Grande do Sul. This study sought to go beyond current assessments of public policies based on the numbers of their implementation, providing an assessment based on the proposed outcome: improving the living conditions of families through access to land. To this end, the perception of settled families was considered the main instrument of analysis. The results were discussed based on the five dimensions established for the development approach: social, cultural, economic, environmental, and territorial.