Adoption of economic development strategies in small towns and rural areas: Effects of past community action

Incorporating elements from both human ecology and the theories of local social interaction, the purpose of this study is to ascertain empirically the independent, additive effect of past community action in explaining variations in recent adoption of economic development strategies. I consider and control the effects of other structural and ecological characteristics of small towns and rural areas that have been shown to be important sources of variation in economic development strategies. Results of the hierarchical regression analyses indicate that past community action variables make substantial independent contributions to explaining variations in financial assistance to firms, creation or expansion of recreation-related activities, and creation or expansion of human services after considering and controlling for the effects of community need, socioeconomic status and ecological characteristics. Contrary to expectations, past community action variables do not make a significant contribution to variance explanation in promotion to recruit business and industry and the use of government programs to encourage economic growth, an action arena many discussions of rural development portray as necessary foundations for community development. From a practical standpoint, the findings of this study encourage efforts to initiate local actions and develop or maintain symbols of local identity. These can play paramount roles in the future, if not immediately, as residents of rural communities seek to attain shared goals.     

First Nations and community economic development: a case study

A training project in a northern Canadian community providedan opportunity to examine participatory planning approachesand the meaning of work in First Nations communities. Focusgroups conducted three years after the unsuccessful interventionof a community economic development (CED) project suggest thatcomplex factors such as lack of support from community leadersand rate of pay for workers determine whether CED is alwaysappropriate in northern, First Nations contexts.     

Contemporary strategies for rural community development in Australia: a governmentality perspective

Contemporary strategies for rural development in Australia are based upon notions of self-help and bottom-up, community-based initiatives which are said to `empower’ the individual from the imposing structures of government intervention. While such strategies are not entirely new to Australia, they have, it seems, been inadequately theorised to date and are generally regarded, in rather functionalist terms, as indicative of attempts to cut back on public expenditure. Harnessing itself to the `governmentality’ perspective, this paper explores government and `expert’ discourses of rural community development in Queensland and suggests, instead, that these strategies are indicative of an advanced liberal form of rule which seeks to `govern through community'. With this in mind, three basic research questions are identified as worthy of further exploration; how are the notions of self-governing individuals and communities constructed in political discourse; what political rationalities are used to justify current levels of (non) intervention and finally; what are the discourses, forms and outcomes of empowerment at the local level? The paper concludes by arguing that while the empowering effects of self-help are frequently cited as its greatest virtue, it is not so much control as the added burden of responsibility that is being devolved to local people. Given the emphasis of the governmentality perspective on strategies for `governing at a distance', however, these conclusions can hardly be unexpected.     

Social capital and economic development in regional Australia: A case study

This article reports the findings of a case study of social capital and economic development conducted in two towns in regional Australia between 2001 and 2002. The hypothesis driving the research states that a town displaying a high level of social capital will also display a high level of economic development, while a town with a low level of social capital will display a low level of economic development. Moreover, it is suggested the social capital will exert a positive causal influence on economic development. The study goes some way to confirming this hypothesis and provides empirical evidence to suggest that both bonding and bridging social capital are important for successful community economic development outcomes.     

In search of a happy medium: How the structure of interorganizational networks influence community economic development strategies

Routes to economic development attract considerable attention among social scientists, policy makers, and community activists. Increasingly, social scientists examine various attributes of communities, their members, and their natural surroundings that facilitate and inhibit economic development. However, few empirical analyses exist that analyze the impact of a community's network structure on different forms of economic development such as on industrial recruitment and self-development. Using data collected from six communities in Washington State, the impact of a community's interorganizational network structure on industrial recruitment and self-development is examined. Results suggest that different types of network structures are better suited for different economic development strategies. A certain level of cohesiveness among community organizations and institutions are favorable for implementing self-development projects. However for industrial recruitment, networks that are bridging facilitate more types of economic development. While bonding and bridging network structures appear to be at odds with one another, it is possible for communities to increase both forms of economic development by maintaining a certain level of cohesiveness among subcomponents and increasing the number of organizations that serve as cut-points connecting non-redundant sources of information. These findings illustrate the need for communities and local activists to consider a community's network structure when deciding on an economic development strategy.     

Stabilising the USSR's rural population through development of the social infrastructure

This study is concerned with the problems caused by rural-urban migration in the USSR and with the policies that have been developed to deal with those problems. The author suggests that "the increase in the material prosperity of collective farmers since the Revolution, although a necessary condition for discouraging rural migration, has not in itself been sufficient to prevent the occurrence of rural manpower shortages. He points to the need for an all-round approach to improving conditions of life in the countryside, with due regard for cultural/utilitarian and socio-psychological factors, and suggests that the solution to the problem lies in agro-industrial integration, the improvement of public transport and the extension of the all-weather road network."     

Social relationships in locality and livelihood: The embeddedness of rural economic restructuring

In this paper, we apply an embeddedness perspective to data collected from group interviews in four rural Wisconsin communities. The interviews focused on interpretations of local economic conditions and changes and on the consequences of these changes for family well-being and activities. We analyze our participants' relationships to locality, their interpretations of local economic changes, and their formal and informal work arrangements. Just as restructuring is not occurring on the ‘head of a pin’, neither are the social relations that influence people's interpretations of, and responses to, restructuring. The restructuring of places leads to and is defined by the restructuring of social relationships in places. Family and marital relations are central to the kinds of actions and understandings we studied. In addition, we noted the importance of neighboring and class relationships. Some of these relationships were primarily based on a competition of interests, others were based on mutual accommodation and cooperation. All these relationships are embedded in place, occurring in and helping to define locality. We conclude with a discussion of localities as continuously constructed, not only by macro-economic forces, but by the history of social relations that provide tolerance and resistance.     

Repositioning culture for development: women and development in a Nigerian rural community

Most studies on women have ignored women's view of themselves in relation to their roles in community development. This study uses interview and ethnographic data from Nigeria to investigate women's narratives of themselves concerning their position in a rural cultural space in relation to community development. It explores ways of repositioning patriarchal or gender unresponsive cultures for eliciting women's potentials in community development. It emphasises how women's cultural constrains in a patriarchal community have led to a rare survival strategy – that is, the evolution of an invisible matriarchy. As a recommendation, it presents a framework for culture repositioning and a map of actors' responsibilities for its achievement. It contributes to ongoing debates on women in rural community development. It raises conceptual questions about customary practices that affect women's values in communities in Nigeria's rural areas. Finally, it presents three main lessons that can be drawn by women (and men) in traditional communities in non-Western societies.     

Construction and economic development : The case of Singapore

During the 1960s and 1970s, construction was seen as a possible leading sector for LDCs to modernise their economies. The basis for this view was an alleged correlation between construction output and national income. By the 1980s, it was realised that increasing construction output may face severe structural and supply constraints. The purpose of this paper is to subject both the modernisation and structuralist views to close scrutiny by considering the role of construction in Singapore's colonial and post-colonial economic development. The main findings are: (a) the alleged correlation between construction and economic development may not hold because part of the construction output may represent a misallocation of resources; (b) the supply-side constraints may have been exaggerated; and (c) both views downplay the crucial role of class structure and the manner in which a country is integrated into global capitalism in accounting for the level of construction output.     

Voluntarism, self-help and rural community development: Some current approaches

Within the last decade or so, there has developed an increased concern for the welfare of rural communities and for individuals within such communities. At the same time there has emerged a parallel concern for environmental matters, concerned with conservation of species and habitat and the protection of cherished landscapes and amenities. Both sectors of rural concern have been characterised by debate about the means of delivery of policies and programmes in their respective areas and, in particular, about the balance between state action and the activities of the private sector. A common thread running through such debates has been the role of what is loosely called the ‘voluntary sector’, that is the complicated mix of individuals and organisations, local and national, which involve themselves in effort, not for direct payment nor as a routine of work, but because of feelings of commitment, belief and ideology.This paper is concerned with just one aspect of this sector — that which involves social and community aspects of the lives of rural dwellers in the English countryside. Despite this restricted field, there is an attempt to see things within a broader socio-political context, such that rural voluntarism and rural self-help can be assessed not only against a wider picture of volunteering generally but also placed within a political framework, both national and local. Voluntarism and self-help cannot exist independently of the world around them, yet the very process of facing up to the wider political realities creates problems of accountability and control to the extent that some would dismiss the voluntary sector as ineffective at best or the tool of vested interests at worst.     

Social and economic transition: a case study in Portugal's western Algarve

This study discusses change in the village of Figueira, 7 km north west of Portimao, in the Algarve. Original surveys in 1967,1981 and 1983 allow analysis of changes in land tenure, housing and occupation. The results are used to infer the extent to which change to a wage-labour economy has been associated with a concentration or dispersion in the ownership of agricultural land and housing. They generally suggest that ownership has become more dispersed, agriculture more fragmented, and share-cropping less common. The wages of the non-agricultural sector have been held in household control and have provided the bulk of the investment into agriculture and housing. Social and economic change has been stimulated by the expansion of capitalism but, in the case of agriculture and housing at least, this has not been associated with the concentration of economic control. These results are used to comment on the Marxist ‘peasant class’ thesis.     

Policy strategies for economic development in Cuba: A simulation model analysis

The economic reforms implemented in Cuba since 2008 do not adequately deal with the structural issues that hamper the country's economic development. The article presents a system dynamics model to investigate Cuba's development process, and a simulation analysis to compare different policy scenarios that may be realized in the future as economic reforms will continue. The results indicate that the most effective development policy would be to combine active public policies to enhance the research and development sector on the one hand, and to foster the emergence of an efficient private sector that will develop the capital infrastructure of the economy on the other.     

Social capital, the social economy and community development

Social capital is increasingly used in the field of communitydevelopment and the social economy. This article describes someof the results to emerge from a three-year research project(CONSCISE Project), which looked at the contribution socialcapital can make to the social economy within local economicdevelopment. Following the definition of social capital, thearticle examines how it can be assessed and then goes on tolist the main findings on the significance of social capitalin the understanding of the social economy and community development.It concludes with a number of policy implications on how socialcapital can be used within the context of community development.     

Policies and strategies for integrating women in agriculture and rural development

Continued economic stagnation, civil unrest, rural-urban migration, and a series of natural disasters have impeded efforts in the Sudan to integrate women into the development process. Although the Four-Year (1988-1989 to 1991-92) Salvation, Recovery, and Development Programs Plan does not explicitly addresses women's issues, its emphasis on food security, appropriate technology for the agricultural sector, small-scale industries and handicrafts, balanced regional development, and the needs of the poorest 20% of the population guarantees that women will be major recipients. There remains a need, however, to increase women's participation in the development planning process and to base projects on reliable data on women's economic activities. More successful in defining women's needs have been community development projects--Western Savannah Development Corporation, Blue Nile Integrated Rural Development Project, Nuba Mountain Project, and Jebel Marra Rural Development Project--that combine income generation, social welfare, and agricultural research. It is recommended that all such large integrated rural development or agricultural projects allot funds specifically for women's activities and ensure coordination with women's organizations to avoid duplication and identify areas of greatest need. Also urged is the development of appropriate technologies that will alleviate women's double burden of poverty and household chores and address the inequitable distribution of income. Establishment of a women's bureau for women's affairs and development within the National Planning Department would facilitate project formulation and evaluation. In need of change if women in development projects in the Sudan are to be successful are laws that limit female land ownership and practices that deny women loans and credit.