The Self-Deceiving State

Abstract

Accelerating ChangeIn all history there has never been a period as dramatic for the scale and scope of unexpected changes in the human condition as the late 1980s and early 1990s.Among the less obvious of these changes have been those in the realities of rural life and conditions in the South.But changes there also appear to be accelerating.The revolution in communications is increasingly touching rural people: in some parts of the South, not just radios, but television and videos are to be found in villages.In some economies, urban-style consumer goods are more and more demanded and available.In others, war, civil disorder, drought and famine have driven people dramatically down into destitution.Almost everywhere, in different ways, and in different directions, change -often rapid, often unpredictable -seems increasingly the norm.