[The designation “Rhodesia” is used to distinguish the colonial state, with which this article is concerned, from the future decolonized “Zimbabwe”. Readers interested in a less theoretical but more closely documented version of the arguments presented in this paper, plus analysis of the options and prospects for the administration of rural development in Zimbabwe, are referred to Beyond Community Development: The Political Economy of Rural Administration in Zimbabwe (London, Catholic Institute for International Relations, 1978, 64 pp.) by the same author.]