1st Edition

The Routledge Handbook of Comparative Rural Policy

    570 Pages 60 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    570 Pages 60 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    This volume represents the result of almost two decades of trans-Atlantic collaborative development of a policy research paradigm, the International Comparative Rural Policy Studies program. Over this period dozens of scientists from different disciplines but with a common interest in rural issues and policy have collaboratively studied the policies in North America, Europe, and other parts of the world.





    A core element of the book is the idea and practice of comparative research and analysis – what can be learned from comparisons, how and why policies vary in different contexts, and what lessons might or might not be “transferable” across borders. It provides skills for the use of comparative methods as important tools to analyze the functioning of strategies and specific policy interventions in different contexts and a holistic approach for the management of resources in rural regions. It promotes innovation as a tool to valorize endogenous resources and empower local communities and offers case studies of rural policy in specific contexts. The book largely adopts a territorial approach to rural policy. This means the book is more interested in rural regions, their people and economies, and in the policies that affect them, than in rural sectors, and sectoral policies per se.





    The audience of the book is by definition international and includes students attending courses in agricultural and rural policy, rural and regional studies, and natural resource management; lecturers seeking course material and case studies to present to their students in any of the courses listed above; professionals working in the field of rural policy; policy-makers and civil servants at different levels seeking tools to better understand rural policy both at the local and global scale and to better recognize and comprehend how to transfer best practices.



    List of figures. List of tables. Notes on contributors. Acknowledgements. Rural Policy Learning Commons. Introduction.

    Part I: Introduction to comparative rural policy studies
    1 What is rural? What is rural policy? What is rural development policy? Ray D. Bollman and Bill Reimer 2 Comparing ruralities: the case of Canada and the United States. Bill Reimer and Thomas G. Johnson 3 What is rural? The historical evolution of rural typologies in Europe. John M. Bryden, Jordi Rosell Foxà, and Lourdes Viladomiu 4 A comparative rural profile across OECD member countries. Ray D. Bollman 5 Why comparative rural policy studies? Comparative theory and methods. Erika Allen Wolters and Brent S. Steel 6 Policy process theory for rural policy. Suman Pant, Casey Taylor, and Brent S. Steel 7 Policy outcomes of decentralized public programs: implications for rural policy. Judith I. Stallmann and Grichawat Lowatcharin 8 Co-constructing rural futures: understanding place-based development and policy. Sean Markey, Greg Halseth, and Laura Ryser 9 Territorial capital in rural policy development. Francesca Regoli, Dezsö Kovács, Natalija Bogdanov, William H. Meyers, and Matteo Vittuari

    Part II: People and society
    10 International migration: sustaining rural communities. Philomena De Lima and Lidia Carvajal 11 Rural immigration and welcoming communities. Ryan Gibson and Robert Annis 12 The role of women in rural areas. Patricia T. Fernandez-Guajardo, Denise Lach, and Allison Davis-White Eyes 13 Rural poverty in a comparative context. Bill Reimer 14 Understanding the dimensions of aging and old age in rural areas. Philipp Kneis and Keith Baker 15 Rural health and well-being. Kathleen Kevany and Maya Fromstein 16 Rural policy and the cultural construction of the urban/rural divide in the United States and Europe. Philipp Kneis

    Part III: Resources and environment
    17 Environmental policy: what are the options? John Devlin and Brennan Chapman Lowery 18 The inefficiency of resource policy as a mechanism to deliver rural policy. Ray D. Bollman 19 The water–energy–food–climate nexus. John Devlin and Sarah Minnes 20 Governance of watersheds in rural areas. Karen Refsgaard 21 Rethinking energy in agricultural and rural areas. Marco Pagani, Fabio De Menna, Laura García Herrero, Houston Sudekum, Giuseppe Palladino, and Matteo Vittuari 22 Conventional and alternative agri-food chains. Victòria Soldevila-Lafon, Lourdes Viladomiu, and Jordi Rosell Foxà 23 Building sustainable regional food systems: policies and support. Kathleen Kevany and Maya Fromstein 24 Drivers of food losses and their implications for the agro-food chain: selected case studies. Matteo Vittuari, Andrea Segrè, Luca Falasconi, Simone Piras, Laura Brenes-Peralta, Laura García Herrero, Marco Pagani, and Fabio De Menna 25 Fish as food: policies affecting food sovereignty for rural Indigenous communities in North America. David Fazzino, Philip Loring, and Glenna Gannon 26 Public policies affecting community forest management. Víctor Ávila Akerberg, Luis Angel López Mathamba, Tanja González Martínez, Sergio Franco-Maass, and Gabino Nava Bernal

    Part IV: Innovation
    27 Social economy and entrepreneurship in rural areas. Al Lauzon, Mary Ferguson, Catherine Lang, and Barbara Harrison 28 Grounded innovation in the rural bioeconomy. John M. Bryden and Karen Refsgaard 29 Innovation, broadband, and community resilience. William Ashton and Wayne Kelly 30 Climate change adaptation by farmers: the case of Nepal. Krishna Lal Poudel and Thomas G. Johnson

    Part V: Rural policy reviews
    31 Rural policy in the United States. Thomas G. Johnson 32 Rural policy in Canada. Bill Reimer 33 Rural policy in Europe. John M. Bryden 34 Rural policy in the Western Balkans. Natalija Bogdanov, Marius Lazdinis, and Matteo Vittuari

    Part VI: Comparative rural policy case studies
    35 Peri-urban agricultural policies in Canada and France. Mikaël Akimowicz, Harry Cummings, Charilaos Képhaliacos, and Karen Landman 36 A non-profit as a policy actor? A case study of the Breds Treasure Beach Foundation in Jamaica. Matthew Pezold 37 Post-Soviet rural areas towards European integration: the difficult transition of Moldova. Simone Piras 38 “Why local governments?” An ongoing debate in rural New Brunswick, Canada. Michelle Landry 39 A comparative case study of the Main Street Program in the United States. Glenn Sterner 40 Community-managed forestry in Palo Seco, Mexico. Andrew Peach and John Devlin 41 Land ownership and land management policies in Norway and Scotland. Annie McKee, Heidi Vinge, Hilde Bjørkhaug, and Reidar Almås 42 Local policies addressing poverty and social exclusion in rural Spain during the recession. Diana E. Valero 43 Integral mountain development in Spain: an historical review. Pedro Fiz Rocha Correa


    Index.

    Biography

    Matteo Vittuari, PhD, is Associate Professor in Agricultural, Food and Rural Policy and Agricultural Policy Evaluation at the Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, Italy.





    John Devlin, PhD, is Associate Professor in the Rural Planning and Development Program, School of Environmental Design and Rural Development at the University of Guelph, Canada.





    Marco Pagani, PhD, is a Research Fellow in the Rural Policy Learning Commons Project.





    Thomas Johnson, PhD, is Professor Emeritus at the University of Missouri, USA.