Agrarian and burocratic moderniation under Franco´s Regime: The educational and administratrive model of the Servicio de ExtensiónERVICIO de Extensión Agraria

Abstract

We develop the idea that the development of specific policies enjoys a degree of relative autonomy in relation to the political and ideological framework within which they appear; their own dynamics and logics explain therefore to a great length their nature and trajectory. This is the case particularly for those policies with a greater “professional” character, such as rural extension services. In the case of the Spanish version of extension services, the Servicio de Extensión Agraria (SEA), especially from 1960, the specific role of actors, the internal logical of the development of the and the local (county-level) character of their activities explain much of the evolution of this Service and its novelty regarding the administrative culture of Franco's regime. Results cannot be conclusive, but are sufficiently expressive of our argument. We do not attempt a history of SEA, but we do try to explain its essence and meaning in the context of Francoist agrarian policy and the transformation of the Spanish countryside.