The subject of the treatise are the forests (woods) and their economy on _iče and Fraj_tanj estates in the Lower Styria, which were the property of the Styrian Religion Fund, in the period between the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century. The first estate possessed 2365 and the second 1423 yokes of forests. The distribution of the tree species and the state of the forest stands, which were with some exceptions generally bad, are described.

John Steinbeck's 1939 novel can be given a reading that links events and the mentality of characters to mainstream schools of liberal and neo-liberal political theory: libertarianism, egalitarianism, and utilitarianism. Each of these schools is sketched in outline and applied to topics in rural political culture.

Globalization offers a mix of new trajectories for agriculture, livelihoods, resource use, and environmental conservation. The papers in this issue share elements that advance our understanding of these new trajectories.

When South Africa's land reform programme finally reached rural Umbumbulu, a potential for conflict over land emerged unexpectedly. Strategically located near a major urban centre, residents of this region have long relied on wages and social welfare grants. Land was valued primarily for residential security and as a symbolic representation of community membership, rather than for productive purposes. This emphasis on community membership, however, created the potential for conflict when a local chief challenged a civil society group over their authority to claim land.

Upon request this paper is available from the author.

In 2005 the Uzbek government accelerated the dissolution process of collective farms through full-scale land reform. As the central production unit, the collective enterprise was supplanted by a private, family-based enterprise. Simultaneously Water Users Associations (WUAs) were established that operate and maintain the irrigation and drainage infrastructure of the former collective farms. Though these land-cum-water reforms could in principle initiate enormous changes, there is still a strong continuity due to the state-regulated agricultural system.

The objective of the paper is to survey the state of knowledge of economists and agriculturaleconomists at the onset of transition and seventeen years later. The "standard" economicreasoning in the early nineties were based on neoclassical economics and documented was hasbeen termed the Washington Consensus. It is shown that the discrepancy between expectationsand reality as well as the evolution of institutional economics has challenged economists.