Crofter Forestry, Land Reform and the Ideology of Community

Abstract

Government policy towards the crofting form of land tenure in Scotland is investigated in terms of the ideology of `community'. The example of `crofter forestry', the creation of woodland on crofts, is examined, and the assumptions of law and policy are contrasted with the experience of crofters themselves. A comparison is then made between the croft forestry legislation and later land reform legislation that applied not only to crofting tenure but also to other rural communities, in terms of a changing approach by the state to the construction of community.