Getting Close to the Action: The Micro-Politics of Rural Development

Abstract

This article identifies and positions micro‐politics within rural development practice. It is concerned with the hidden and subtle processes that bind groups together, including trust, power and personal perceptions and motivations. The first section of the article provides a theoretical context for micro‐political processes which reveals subtle distinctions from social capital. The section following describes the ethnographic approach that sets the methodological framework for the research. The findings reveal how micro‐political processes manifest in a rural development group affect norms and relations both positively and negatively. Finally the causes of and factors affecting micro‐politics are considered before concluding with a discussion on how micro‐politics may be managed in rural regeneration.

Community Participation in Spatial Planning: Exploring Relationships between Professional and Lay Stakeholders

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“…Other members had multiple functions within the community. The group was perceived by many as being elitist and council driven, having nothing to do with the local community and so they had no desire to get involved (McAreavey, 2006). The very legitimacy of the regeneration group was questioned.…”