Funded “Networking” has steadily gained importance among European Union (EU) rural policies instrumentation: Since 1991, with LEADER the formation of regional public-private partnerships and EU-wide information exchange has been supported. Later also inter-territorial cooperation was funded....

This paper examines the relevance of networking as an instrument for implementing European rural development policies. The LEADER programme of the European Union (EU) supports partnerships and networking within and between rural regions in the EU and aims at advancing rural, regional...