Territorial development in the Argentinean north: a critical perspective

The strategies of development in rural territories in the provinces of Jujuy, Misiones and Salta in Argentina provide the objects of study in this analysis. These three cases reveal that there has been a process of consolidation of grass-roots organization since 1990, which seems to have strengthened the historically marginalized sectors of the population. New kinds of relationships between the state and civil society have also appeared, leading to rural development institutions which are actively involved with poor rural families. For the analysis of these processes the following premises are generated: a) territory expresses social and spatial relations of power, b) rural development must imply greater autonomy for the beneficiary population in the processes of public and private decision-making and management. Only in this way it is possible for development to lead to a new territoriality (a change in spatially bounded power relations). The article is organized by initially presenting the objectives and the cases, followed by a presentation of the theoretical framework relating to development, territory and power, a characterization of the analyzed experiences, and finally some comparative reflections.