Institutional Restructuring

The Basic Issue

Adolf Berle in his book Power, speaks of the operation of five principles of power which he has observed over his lifetime working as a public servant in the upper levels of the United States government. The fourth of those principles was that "power is exercised through and depends on institutions" ( ). He notes that when situations deteriorate, and chaos ensues, institutions need to be repaired, replaced, or adapted to meet the new circumstances.

Over the past one hundred and fifty years, there has been a large-scale restructuring in the agricultural sector owing to successful results in agricultural research and development. The changes in agriculture resulted in a migration of population to urban centers, and a much smaller remnant of people left to tend the farms. Fewer farm personnel required fewer support services and larger distances between farm centers of any size. The service delivery institutions of all types have had to undergo a major re-structuring of their operations. Many have simply folded or have moved to the cities as well.

Aspects of restructuring in rural institutions are dealt with in a separate segment of this web site Restructuring in Rural Community.