Farm forests and rural livelihood in Finland

In the rural areas of Finland, a substantial share of incomes is derived from private farm forests. Regional variation, however, is great: significance of forestry on farms is higher in eastern than in western and southern Finland. The membership in the European Union (EU) is expected to alter rural economic development because of considerable negative effects on farm incomes. This study aims at evaluating the effects of Finland's EU membership on the significance of forests on farms in particular, and in rural economy as a whole. Five scenarios with different development of prices for agricultural and forest products are analysed by a linear programming model. Farms are assumed to practice a combination of activities to maximise farm revenue. The share of forestry in total farm revenue is likely to increase due to EU membership and the application of the Common Agricultural Policy. However, the increased significance of forests is only relative as a result of the considerable absolute decline in agricultural income. These results indicate that farm forestry will require increased attention and investment in order to maintain livelihood and economic activity in the mainly agriculture-oriented vast rural areas of Finland.     

EU economic governance and austerity: Exploring recent perspectives

This paper presents some of the main theoretical approaches which examine changes in the EU economic governance system during the current crisis. We review standard approaches of EU studies (neo‐functionalism, liberal inter‐governmentalism, and historical institutionalism), Marxist–regulationist political economists, and Bourdieusian sociologists. The paper illustrates how scholars utilize given intellectual tools to understand ongoing trends of political and institutional change. We suggest that Bourdieusian sociologists may be in a relatively better position to interpret governance reforms and this is briefly illustrated by looking at some empirical observations from researching the effect of EU economic governance reform on the management of public assets in Greece.     

Social welfare in rural Europe

Rural development has been identified by EU leaders as one of the priorities of European structural policies, and as one of the objectives of cohesion policy. Yet despite this commitment, we are very poorly informed about how ordinary people live across the rural areas of Europe, their incomes and quality of life, and their perceptions of policies and economic and social change. This paper argues that greater attention should be devoted to issues of poverty, disadvantage and social exclusion in rural Europe by both policymakers and researchers. This is particularly crucial at the present time as rural Europe is subject to major structural changes deriving both from changes in rural economy and society and from policy initiatives such as the Maastricht Treaty and the Single European Act. These are over and above the wider trends operating throughout Europe in relation to employment, fiscal crisis and ageing, for example. A central requirement is for the articulation of policies for tackling economic and social exclusion (e.g. Poverty 3, Exclusion 1), on the one hand, with those directed towards rural development (e.g. Leader 2), on the other. Fundamental household survey work is required to increase our understanding of what constitutes rural disadvantage, which client groups are affected, and how policies can contribute towards relieving their disadvantage, preferably through client-based instruments rather than less appropriate area-based approaches. The last part of this paper presents preliminary results of such a survey, focusing on issues of employment, housing, poverty and quality of life.     

Women in power and power of women: the Liberian experience

ABSTRACT

Do women really improve conditions for gender equality after becoming heads of states? This study investigates if having a woman at the helm of country’s decision making processes leads to better indicators on women’s conditions. Using time-series observations for the period 2000–11, we test the hypothesis with the Liberian experience. We analyse six main gender indicators: gender equality, equality of representation in rural areas (basic community), economic rights of women, participation of women in active life, political rights of women and legislations for the protection of women against violence. Our findings do not show substantially significant changes between the first mandate of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and the period before. In essence, we only notice positive and statistical ruptures for equality of representation in rural areas and the economic rights of women. Policy implications are discussed.     

Discourses on rurality in post-socialist news media: The case of Lithuania's leading daily “Lietuvos Rytas” (1991–2004)

The Soviet regime defined rurality as a collective-farm or kolkhoz-based society. Since the late 1980s such a state-imposed definition of rurality was rapidly unraveling under the tensions and conflicts produced by perestroika and post-socialist reforms. In the new politics of the rural, the role that the news media was playing in shaping public opinion on rural matters was of growing importance. The paper analyzes 3827 articles on rural issues published during the post-independence period (1991–2004) in the leading Lithuanian daily “Lietuvos Rytas” (LR). Two types of discourses in rural coverage are discerned. During the 1990s rural coverage in LR was reflective of conflicts and tensions between relatively prosperous urban classes which benefited from post-socialist reforms and pauperized rural population. Rurality was increasingly associated with the failure of “the moral modernization” of the rural population. Rural population was stigmatized as deficient in values and character, remaining in the grips of the Soviet mentality and state dependency and, therefore, unable to take advantage of opportunities created by the reforms. Since the early 2000s when economic situation in the country improved significantly and Lithuania started negotiations on European Union membership, rurality in LR coverage was gradually re-defined in EU terms as a socio-spacial entity shaped by regional, national, and local policies promoting multifunctionality of rural areas, well-being of rural communities, and active citizenship. Factors that influenced changes in rural discourses are analyzed. Impacts of changing discourses on rural identities, rural politics and policies are discussed.     

Youth transitions and interdependent adult–child relations in rural Bolivia

There are few studies which document youth transitions from school to work in rural areas of the majority world. This paper, based on ethnographic fieldwork in a rural community in Bolivia, considers how young people make decisions about different types of school-to-work transitions which include migrating to continue their formal education, working in the community, or seeking migrant work in the regional town or in neighbouring Argentina. The paper explores how young people negotiate structural constraints over their choice of transition, including the rural location, economic resources, parental attitudes and family background, gender, birth order, social networks and role models. Importantly the paper highlights that underlying young people's choice of transition are interdependent household relations. In the majority world, in this case in Bolivia, rural young people may achieve economic independence sooner than those in the minority world, but long-term family interdependence tends to be maintained throughout the life-course. This paper suggests that the notion of negotiated interdependence is a more appropriate way to understand youth transitions and relations between young people and adults in rural areas of the majority world.     

上海农村集体经济组织产权制度改革探索

推进农村集体经济组织产权制度改革是农村改革发展中的一个具有方向性的重大课题,也是在新的历史条件下维护农民集体收益分配权、壮大农村集体经济的重要实现形式。上海市农村集体经济组织产权制度改革工作虽已取得初步成效,但由于缺少国家层面法律法规和相关配套扶持政策的支撑,在一定程度上造成了地方配套扶持政策难以突破,影响了基层参与改革的积极性。建议在国家层面开展对农村集体经济管理方面的立法工作,从法律层面对集体经济组织法人地位的确立、集体经济组织成员身份的界定、集体资产的管理等方面予以明确和规范。     

The rural space in Israel in search of renewed identity: The case of the moshav

This paper aims to describe and explain the changes which have taken place in the rural areas of Israel by focussing on a particular type of community—the moshav, which is a planned smallholders’ settlement, based on family farms and legally organized as a cooperative society. An analysis of the changes that have taken place in the moshav in the past few decades reveals a process of rural restructuring, similar to that which is occurring in many developed countries. New economic activities have replaced farming as sources of income, and newcomers, mostly of urban origin, have invaded rural communities in search of a better quality of life. These changes derive from a combination of structural changes in agriculture, changing government policies and cumulative decisions of rural households. The result is a more heterogeneous moshav—physically, economically and socially, and growing regional, inter-village and intra-village disparities. These developments have a direct impact on the organizational structure of the moshav, its environmental qualities and its exchange relations with the urban sector. As part of the ongoing process of change the moshav is gradually losing some of its unique features, which formed the basis for its identity as a special type of rural community. This leads to the question of whether the moshav will be able to develop a new identity as a distinct type of rural community, or turn into a suburban or urban community. The answer will depend largely on the direction taken by government policy.     

The economic diversity of rural England: stylised fallacies and uncertain evidence

Debate about rural policy is often based on persistent presumptions about conditions in ‘rural England’, generally associated with economic decline, low incomes, and a lack of services. Such generalisations are rarely justified for rural areas as a whole and we term them as ‘stylised fallacies’. The impression of their relevance is perpetuated by the selective comparison of statistics for ‘urban’ and ‘rural’ areas. The paper reviews the evidence on a number of such fallacies: the economic impact of agriculture, depopulation, low incomes, rural labour markets, house prices and service provision. In each case, the position is far more complex than is commonly recognised in policy debate. The rural character of an area does not in itself offer a rationale for policy intervention. Rather, discussion could be supported through the characterisation of different types of local area. This might be approached either through statistical analysis or through qualitative analysis of emerging social and economic patterns of differentiation. In practice, each approach needs to be supported through the other.     

Differentiation of rural development driven by industrialization and urbanization in eastern coastal China

With the socio-economic transformation, regional development factors recombination and followed industrial restructuring have changed the rural areas in eastern coastal China deeply. The interaction between the material and non-material elements affecting rural production and lifestyles shaped different rural development types depending on a carrier, which is composed of different industries. Accordingly, this paper makes the definitions of four rural development types, i.e., farming industry dominated rural development type (FIT), industry dominated rural development type (IDT), rural development type focusing on business, tourism and services industries (BTT), and balanced rural development type (BDT), and classifies the rural development types in eastern coastal China. Then, taking the social representation approach and basing on the major factors affecting the long-term rural development and the exertion of the functions of the countryside with regard to society, the assessment indicator system of rurality degree index (RDI) was established to distinguish the rurality degree of different types. The results indicated that, to some extent, the RDI may accurately reflect the status quo of rural development and the exertion of the functions of the countryside with regard to society, and can also reflect the different stage in what the same rural development type in different region stays. The authors argue that the study on the interaction of rural development factors in the process of economic and social transformation and the subsequent rural development model is very important to deeply understand the rural development and to smoothly achieve coordinated and balanced rural–urban development in developing countries, which are experiencing rapid industrialization and urbanization.     

Spatial Inequality in Access to Food Assistance in Indiana

This project is an analysis of the spatial inequality that exists between rural and urban areas in access to food assistance agencies. I gathered the population of all food pantries and soup kitchens in 24 sample counties in Indiana and mapped the location of these agencies using geographic information system analysis. Using the population center of the census block group, I measured the distance from the population center to the nearest food assistance agency. If the closest agency was more than a mile away, the census block group was considered a food assistance desert, a concept I created that draws on the food desert measurement. I found that rural high‐poverty counties in my sample are the most likely to contain census block groups that are food assistance deserts, and urban high‐poverty counties are the least likely to contain food assistance deserts. From these findings, I determine that access to assistance agencies needs to be increased in rural areas, especially rural areas with high‐poverty rates.     

Migratory movements and their effects on family structure: the Latin American case

The main causes of population mobility in Latin America have been 1) dissolution of the traditional rural societies, 2) expansion of the agro-industrial economy, and 3) consolidation of an urban economic and cultural model. Disparities in wages and exchange rates and inequality in development between different countries have led to emigration to countries at higher levels of economic development and to the industrialized Western countries. More recently, political instability and institutionalized violence in Central America have induced population movements to other countries in the region. 6 basic types of migration in Latin America are 1) seasonal migration of small farmers to urban areas or the rural areas in other countries, 2) migration by young rural people to cities or urban areas of other countries, 3) rural-urban and international migration by the whole family group, 4) international urban-urban migration by individuals or by the whole family group, 5) migration for family reunification, and 6) return migration. The predominant type of mobility has been from the countryside to the cities. Both men and women migrate, although the proportion of migrant women is increasing and women occasionally outnumber males. Migrant women generally find less skilled jobs which are less well paid. Migrant workers frequently have access only to less skilled and poorly paid jobs or enter the informal sector of the urban economy. The impact of migration on the structure and functioning of the family unit in the sending society is determined by the number, sex, and role of the family members who migrate. Other economic and social factors such as assistance received by the migrant, the work found, the level of income, and the specific characteristics of the receiving society determine the success of the venture, the capacity to some or all of the remaining family members. Family members who stay in the sending society must adjust their behavior in ways determined by the number, sex, and age of the family members concerned and the type of economic activities by the family. For the migrating family, settlement in the receiving society requires the development of new functions and specialized domestic activities by each of its members. Survival possibilities will be largely determined by assistance networks, the reorganization of the structure and functioning of the family group, and the adoption of new organizational patterns.     

Building institutional capacity in rural Northern Ireland: the role of partnership governance in the LEADER II programme

Throughout the 1990s, Europe's rural areas increasingly embraced local action and local development solutions to face the challenge of the continued re-structuring of the agricultural industry. In parallel, in both the EU and the UK, a policy discourse has emerged which envisages a fundamental shift in support policies for rural areas from a sectoral approach (essentially agriculture) to one that is territorial. At the vanguard of these developments has been the EC's LEADER Programme. From a low base of entrepreneurial activity in rural Northern Ireland, LEADER area-based local action groups have acted as beacons for developing new approaches to diversifying the rural economy—in particular stimulating a significant reappraisal of the rural resource base. This paper charts the operational terrain of LEADER local action groups in the Province, suggesting that their strengths have been in developing the institutional capacity of rural communities and brokering connections in the local economy. Examples will be considered which illustrate enhanced coordination and collaboration of local economic actors and sectoral interests, and a strong facilitator role for LEADER groups in the local arena, with an explicit rural focus. The paper argues that this multi-level collaborative activity is rooted in partnership governance, enabling a communicative process among local stakeholders.     

关于深化上海农村改革的若干思考

上海深化农村改革应着力发展现代农业经营的"三类主体":家庭农场、农民合作社和农业企业;着力保障农民的"三项权利":农民的土地承包经营权、农村集体经济组织成员权利和农民宅基地用益物权;着力盘活农村的"三块土地":农村承包土地、农民宅基地和农村集体建设用地;着力完善涉农的"三项制度":农产品价格形成制度、农业支持保护制度和土地征收制度;着力提升农村公共服务的"三项水平":农村义务教育水平、农村社会保障水平和农村医疗服务水平。     

Policy assignment in the European union

EMU will see a re‐allocation of responsibility between different tiers of government for different elements of economic policy, yet policy assignment in the EU often reflects political compromises rather than dispassionate analysis or principles. This article explores the arguments for assigning responsibility for economic policy to different tiers of government in the EU. In the light of these arguments, the case for re‐assigning policy for prudential supervision of credit institutions, regulation of utilities and industrial policy is examined. This leads to the conclusion that closer economic integration will require potentially substantial changes in the assignment of policy.     

Discourses of Resource Dependency: Second Homeowners as “Lifeblood” in Vacationland

In recent decades, rural destinations that once relied on the production and extraction of land and resources now rely on tourism as the primary economic pursuit. Such destinations have experienced a surge of new migrants in the form of tourists, permanent newcomers, and second homeowners. Scholars have turned to how permanent residents perceive these changes and new populations, revealing that in some instances permanent residents are more accepting of newcomers due to economic constraints. I extend this line of research by asking how, and under what conditions, permanent residents favorably view second homeowners, a specific type of rural in-migrant. Drawing on ethnographic data in Rangeley, Maine, I develop the concept “discourses of resource dependency,” to clarify how and why localities justify, explain, and ultimately pursue one economic resource over another. In this case, local residents view second homeowners as a resource that will ensure the town's economic sustainability, and this frame enables local residents to view their in-migration favorably. This frame emerges not just from structural economic circumstances, but also from a confluence of historical and cultural conditions that elevate the import of second homeowners in Rangeley's place-making project.     

Pluriactivity in rural Norway

This article relates the results of a study carried out on the roles and functions of pluriactivity in rural Norway. The study sought to define the effect on pluriactivity of the integration of rural areas into urban labour markets, international systems of production, and the changes in the sectoral mix in rural areas. The analysis is based on three types of data: a list of enterprises from the national register of economic units, the central register of employed workers, and information from local informants in the sample municipalities. The article concludes that the rate of pluriactivity among the rural population depends on the way in which economic sectors are classified. A further finding is that pluriactivity is an important feature of rural Norway, but is still mainly associated with agricultural enterprise. A final conclusion is that pluriactivity has other characteristics in larger labour markets than in smaller labour markets in rural areas due to the urban influence on the former.     

Evaluation of welfare reform. A framework for addressing the urgent and the important

Assessing the effects of changes still emerging under welfare reform and its overarching policy of devolution presents a challenge to evaluators. Given such features as time limits and benefits caps that vary widely across states and communities, it is necessary not only to attend to urgent issues of immediate relevance for individuals on public assistance but also to focus on important long-term analyses of this complex intergovernmental set of policies. The authors present a conceptual framework based on evaluation utilization and illustrate it with research questions under the rubric of welfare reform. The approach crosses three types of utilization--conceptual, instrumental, and political--with two utilization settings--policy adoption and program implementation. Evaluation strategies are linked to the utilization framework and illustrated with examples from studies of welfare reform. In the aggregate, evaluation studies represent a reasonable range of urgent and important issues across most utilization types and settings.     

Regional disparities in bonding and bridging social capital: An empirical study of rural and urban Japan

This article investigates regional social capital development by focusing on disparities in bonding and bridging social capital among rural and urban areas of Japan. Rural–urban differences in social capital in Western contexts have been discussed by many studies. Their main finding is that bonding social capital is richer in rural areas and bridging social capital is richer in urban areas. However, the empirical evidence presented in this article suggests that in Japan both bridging and bonding social capital are richer in rural than urban areas, diverging from traditional thinking about these two types of social capital. This finding suggests that urbanization and depopulation in rural areas of Japan have led to changes in people's behavior and their demand for social networks, promoting the development of bridging social capital in rural areas.     

Kin Expectations and Kin Support Among Rural Older Adults1

Abstract Relatively little attention has been given to the kin ties of rural older adults. To partially fill this gap in knowledge, kin selection theory was used as a conceptual framework to explore two questions on the extent rural older adults expect and receive assistance from the range of affinal and consanquineal kin and the factors that best explain the current level of support provided by each of the kin types in the family system. Analysis was based on interviews conducted in 1985–1986 with 368 rural older adults in the Piedmont region of North Carolina. Expectations of kin assistance were much higher than the actual level of support that was provided. Both expected and actual levels of assistance declined as the level of consanguineous kin and associated affinal ties decreased. The level of support provided by kin groups was mainly a function of geographic distance to kin and norms of obligation.