Using a theoretical framework, the study proposes an index that can measure the social capital of local action group (LAG) projects. The index is founded on four indicators: number of ties, bridging social capital, recognition, and diversity, which are aggregated into one social capital index. The index has been tested in LAG-Djursland, Denmark,…

Recent decades have seen sustainable development emerging as a core concern of European Union (EU) policy. In order to consider how policies can contribute more positively to the goals of sustainable development, major EU policies must undergo an assessment of their potential economic, environmental and social impacts. Within the agri-environment…

For 25 years the Australian Landcare program has encouraged rural land managers to work cooperatively to resolve natural resource management issues across the nation. Landcare has spread and the model is used internationally. Despite its successes, Landcare has come under criticism for not sufficiently directing land management practices towards…

This paper provides an historical analysis of the National Country Music Muster, a country music festival held in a forest outside of Gympie, a town in rural southeast Queensland, Australia, between the period 1982 and 2006 (the first twenty-five years of the event). This article analyses the origins of the Muster, demonstrating how local events…

Evidence is emerging from across Europe that contemporary agri-environmental schemes are having only limited, if any, influence on farmers' long-term attitudes towards the environment. In this theoretical paper we argue that these approaches are not "culturally sustainable," i.e. the actions are not becoming embedded within farming…

Resilience, and specifically the resilience of (rural) communities, is an increasingly-ubiquitous concept, particularly in the contexts of resistance to shocks, climate change, and environmental disasters. The dominant discourse concerning (community) resilience centres around bounce-back from external shocks. In this paper, I argue that it is…

The paper discusses local responses to schooling policy in the context of the uneven differentiation and sharp social polarisation of the Hungarian countryside. Counter-urbanisation, on the one hand, has brought affluent urban middle classes to suburban spaces, on the other hand, peripheral areas are becoming impoverished with high unemployment,…

This paper focuses on the introduction of a suitable method for the measurement of social capital in the context of rural development policies. We present an empirical application of the method to four case studies from the south of Italy. In order to overcome some limits affecting previous empirical research, we have grounded the measurement…

Using Simmel's notion of sociation, the way in which rural elders in England and Wales relate to, or connect with, each other and others within their community, can be seen to be conflictual as well as consensual. As a vehicle for exploiting this relationship, social capital also can be antithetic as well as convergent and an important element of…

This paper explores the role of various social ties in building trust and providing opportunities for information acquisition and knowledge exchange (IAKE). Social capital is used as a vehicle to explore the relationships between farmers and their advisors using bovine tuberculosis (bTB), a major disease facing the English cattle industry, as a…

The importance of social capital as a resource for rural development, especially in the context of projects involving joint participation of state and civil society, is widely recognized today. This paper analyzes the obstacles confronted by local players--small farmers and government organizations--in the development of an irrigation area through…

Productive ageing recognises the contribution of older people to economic, social and cultural growth and helps build a sustainable community. Being involved in community life is good for individuals and good for society. However, we know very little about the participation of and contribution by people aged 50 and over in rural communities. This…

Amidst much discussion of the values and venues of local food, the Farmers' Market (FM) has emerged as an important, but somewhat uncertain, site of engagement for producers, consumers and local food "champions". Despite the evident certainty of various operational rules, the FM should be seen as a complex and ambiguous space where…

This article analyses the results of a European "research and demonstration" project promoting multifunctional and sustainable agriculture in Alpine regions through a participatory approach. It focuses in particular on initiatives undertaken by a local farmers group in the Italian Alpine area of Val di Sole, the purpose being to draw…

Considerable importance is attached to social exclusion/inclusion in recent EU rural development programmes. At the national/regional operation of these programmes groups of people who are not participating are often identified as "socially excluded groups". This article contends that rural development programmes are misinterpreting the…