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Abstract
Even before other socialist countries in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE)
and the former Soviet Union (FSU) had done so, China and Vietnam
embarked on a decollectivization process, where collective farming was
completely abolished and family farming re-emerged. When the CEE and
FSU countries started farm restructuring during the early 1990s, the East
Asian way seemed to be the model. Some countries followed suit, while
others provided the legal basis for a competitive environment between
various types of farm organizations. One vital feature, however, is the fact
that agricultural service cooperatives, contrary to China and Vietnam, only
play a marginal role in these countries. Though the farmers from China and
Vietnam and from the CEE and FSU countries had equally bitter memories
of their respective collective periods, we argue that additional stakeholders
were decisive in cooperative development. This might be a vital factor for
why agricultural production prospered so quickly.