Cover -- Contents -- List of Figures -- List of Tables -- List of Abbreviations -- Prologue -- Chapter 1 The 'Youthful Bulge' and a Hope Squandered -- Chapter 2 Fettered by Birth, Battered in Life -- Chapter 3 Vicissitudes of Growth -- Chapter 4 Misplaced Priorities -- Chapter 5 Beyond the...

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...