Based on research in two areas of the State of São Paulo (Araraquara and Pontal do Paranapanema), this article conducts a critical discussion of the principal mediating agencies in development projects for rural settlements (government agencies and workers' organizations). Based on qualitative research with data collected over an extended period, the study reconstitutes the web of specific social tensions generated by the reciprocal influences between these agencies within the broader context of the political dispensations in the State and Federal governments. The article concludes that these mediations oscillated in recent decades, proving incapable of proposing consistent development projects. This situation results from changes in the political orientation of government administrations and leadership in the workers' organizations, leaving a vacuum in their long-term strategies.
Rural settlements; mediating agencies; development