Rural areas still play a major role within the EU, as Europe is still a fairly rural continent. Moreover, EU rural areas are going through greater challenges and major transformations. After the Eastern enlargements of the EU (in 2004 and 2007), they are getting more and more heterogeneous, in...

Provides a comprehensive and analytical picture of the evolution and principles of PRA/PLA, with a number of illustrations and field-based studies. The author looks at the essential features of each method and highlights their applications in areas such as participatory poverty assessment and...

The present work discusses possible methodological approaches for the assessment of employment effects of rural development measures. A special focus is on measures of the so called integrated rural development. Methods that are considered non-appropriate are considered nevertheless. Therefore,...

Our paper explores, on a theoretical level, the reason for frequent failures of rural development policies and identifies some potential improvements in rural policy making in Europe. Our approach to des/integration concerns actors, resources, institutions, knowledge, the fundamental logic of...