Local Rural Policy Making and Governance

This chapter explores the local rural policy-making process and the changing structures of rural governance, in the context of integrated rural development policy. It is based on the experience of the concurrent implementation of the LEADER+ Community Initiative and an Integrated Rural Development Programme (emanating from Article 33 of the Rural Development Regulations) in a mountainous and disadvantaged area of the Voiotia district in Greece. Despite the broadening of participation in rural policy making, the capacity of local partnerships to effectively integrate the public, private and voluntary sectors, as well as the issue of adequate and effective representation of the local community, remain open to question. Local policy making and governance are subject to external constraints, originating either from the state or regional administration. The unbalanced outcomes of innovative activities in the project area – from a sectoral, spatial and social point of view – raise issues of resource allocation and a widening of inequalities, whereas the effectiveness of partnership in relation to strategic planning is associated with access to power. The pursuit of an integrated rural policy through multiple policy initiatives on a local scale creates a renewed concern for rural policy making adapted to local needs, and for socially representative and inclusive governance structures.