Take two acres and call me in the morning: Is land reform a prescription for peasant unrest?

Although land reform is often portrayed as a remedy for rural unrest, its effectiveness at inoculating rural populations against the appeals of insurgent movements has yet to be established. By comparing land reform programs in Peru and El Salvador, I assess its effects on the distribution of popular support between rebels and regime, the limits on its ability to restore support for the regime, and the impact of other counterinsurgency tactics-especially repressive violence-on the effectiveness of agrarian reform as a counterinsurgency device. Both reform programs were intended to preempt popular support for insurgencies. Yet, Sendero Luminoso built its civilian support base after land reform, and insurgent violence persisted for more than a decade after the initiation of land reform in El Salvadon In both cases, repressive violence by the state undermined the remedial effects of land reform on popular support for the regime.