New Paradigms of Rural Development

Abstract

The rural landscape has undergone a number of profound changes leading to a need to redefine the concept of "rurality. In order to take account of these transformations, rural development must take the form of local development based on the optimisation of local resources and the mobilisation of all parties, both public and private. The approaches to rural development are rooted in the major theories of development and it is the renewal of the latter which has given rise to the new paradigms of rural development, namely governance, decentralisation, multi-functionality and territory.