Rural Development is a textbook that critically examines economic, social and cultural aspects of rural development efforts both in the global north and in the global south. By consistently using examples from the north and the south the book highlights similarities of processes as well as differences in contexts.
The authors’ knowledge of Afghanistan and Sweden respectively creates a core for the discussions which are complemented with a wide range of other empirical examples. Rural Development is divided into nine chapters, each with a thematic focus, ranging from concepts and theories through rural livelihoods and natural resources to discussions on policy and processes of change. The book sees rural development as a multi-level, multi-actor and multi-faceted subject area that needs multidisciplinary perspectives both to support it and to analyse it. Throughout the book examples of rural development interventions are discussed using analytical concepts such as power, discourse, consequences and context to grasp rural development as practices that are more than what is presented in policy documents.
The book is written in a way that makes it accessible for undergraduates while at the same time caters for the kind of deeper reading used by master students and Ph.D.’s. Every chapter is linked to discussion questions as well as suggested further readings and useful websites.
Chapter 1: What is rural development? Chapter 2: Understanding Rural Development: Concepts and Theories Chapter 3: Theories and Approaches to Rural Economic Change Chapter 4: Rural Livelihoods: trajectories, diversification and outcomes Chapter 5: Natural Resources and Rural Development Chapter 6: Support for rural development: institutions and services Chapter 7: Policy, Planning and Rural Development Chapter 8: Causes and Processes of Change and their consequences Chapter 9: Engaging with Development References Index
Biography
Adam Pain has been an academic in the UK and since 2006 part time at the Swedish University for Agricultural Sciences. He has also worked in programme management, as a programme evaluator and as policy advisor. For much of the last thirty years his interests have been focused on the Himalayan region in Bhutan, Nepal and Afghanistan and on their rural mountain economies.
Kjell Hansen is associate professor in European Ethnology and a senior lecturer in rural development at the Swedish University for Agricultural Sciences. His research has focused on questions about the relationships between state, policies and local communities and cultures.
"Specifically written so as to be immediately accessible for undergraduates, while at the same time providing the kind of deeper presentation useful to master students and Ph.D.'s., every individual chapter of "Rural Development" is linked to discussion questions as well as suggested further readings and useful websites. While unreservedly recommended for college and university library collections, it should be noted for the personal reading lists of students, academia, governmental policy makers, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject"
-Micah Andrew, Micah Andrew's Bookshelf, Library Bookwatch
