Nature and agriculture both shape the European countryside and one of the main challenges for the years to come will be to strengthen their interaction for the future development of rural areas. In this valuable and highly topical book, the authors demonstrate how economics and ecology can play...

The expanding membership of the EU means significant changes for accession countries' international trade relations, affecting imports, exports, tax revenues, government expenditures and domestic regulatory regimes. There are also significant ramifications for the EU budget. This book is a...

Although the history of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is dominated by a process of centralisation, growing pressures to integrate agri-environmental problems into the CAP have revealed the need to embrace decentralised approaches in an efficient federal structure. Indeed, in recent years...

Agricultural cooperatives and producer organizations are institutional innovations which have the potential to reduce poverty and improve food security. This book presents a raft of international case studies, from developing and transition countries, to analyse the internal and external...

1. Introduction -- 2. Rural labor markets, networks and workforce development -- 3. Employer training : individual investments in collective goods -- 4. Community colleges in rural America : new roles and challenges -- 5. Workforce development networks : the visible hand at work -- 6. Shoot the...

This book investigates the relationships between rural poverty, risk, and development. Building upon the author's work in the area, it summarises the contributions of recent theoretical and empirical work to our understanding of how risk affects rural poverty levels in developing countries. In...

Contents: Part I -- 1. The Makings of an Authority in Science -- 2. Theorizing Status Intermediaries -- Part II -- 3. Tensions and Struggles in Europe-Level Science -- 4. Creating Acceptance for European Research Council Evaluations -- 5. The Consequences of European Research Council Allocations...

1. Is the world of work behind middle class reshuffling? / Daniel Vaughan-Whitehead, Rosalie Vazquez-Alvarez and Nicolas Maitre -- 2. Is the world of work stimulating middle class growth in the Baltic states? / Jaan Masso, Inta Mierina and Kerly Espenberg -- 3. Social concertation and middle...

Part I framing the discussion on the competitiveness challenge -- 1. Boosting European competitiveness / Marek Belka, Ewald Nowotny, Doris Ritzberger-Grünwald and Pawel Samecki -- 2. Harnessing foreign direct investment to boost economic growth / Beata S. Jarvorcik -- 3. Correcting external...

The aim of this book is to present a much-needed conceptualization of 'the learning region'. The editors scrutinize key concepts and issues surrounding this phenomenon, which are then discussed in the context of recent literature. This unique conceptualization of the learning region presents a...