Public Action and Territorial Development: The LEADER Approach in the Recomposition of Rural Spaces in Languedoc-Roussillon (France) and Andalusia (Spain)

LEADER Program—An Inclusive or Selective Instrument for the Development of Rural Space in Romania?

“…The studies carried out so far highlight the role of the LEADER program and its capacity to stimulate rural development. However, there are some obstacles to the proper implementation of the program, often noting differences in the management and approach of the LEADER program at different scales of analysis [15,17,22]. In this respect, from the first years of the introduction of the program, there have been initiatives to evaluate its results and especially to identify its weaknesses.…”

“…In this respect, from the first years of the introduction of the program, there have been initiatives to evaluate its results and especially to identify its weaknesses. There are researchers who have adopted in their scientific papers quantitative [15,16,18,23] or qualitative [9,10,13,14] methods to evaluate the results of the LEADER initiative, although the frequency of studies on this topic is not as high as expected. In addition, in some European countries (such as Romania) the scientific research focused on isolated case studies conducted on a limited number of LAGs dominates [15,16,23,[28][29][30][31].…”

“…There are researchers who have adopted in their scientific papers quantitative [15,16,18,23] or qualitative [9,10,13,14] methods to evaluate the results of the LEADER initiative, although the frequency of studies on this topic is not as high as expected. In addition, in some European countries (such as Romania) the scientific research focused on isolated case studies conducted on a limited number of LAGs dominates [15,16,23,[28][29][30][31]. Thus, the conclusions of those studies cannot be of general application, therefore it is necessary to carry out more extensive studies in which the analysis of the LEADER program should be performed in an integrated manner on a national scale.…”

“…We assume that a higher level of development leads to a greater involvement of the rural areas in the LEADER program and therefore more projects and a higher degree of absorption of funds. At the basis of this hypothesis lie the results of previous research studies that often demonstrate the failure of the LEADER program to direct its funds towards its main target, namely, less-developed rural communities [15,16,18,23,24]. This is mostly because of the developed regions that frequently prove to be more interested in implementing LEADER projects and absorbing the program's funds.…”

“…Despite efforts to provide development support to European rural areas through the LEADER program, studies researching the results of LEADER indicate a reduced capacity of the program to contribute to the goal of developing disadvantaged rural communities [15][16][17]. Thus, Cañete et al [18], Christodoulakis and Kalyvitis [19], Medeiros [20], Bakucs et al [21], Lacquement et al [15], and Bohlin et al [22], conducting research on the results of the LEADER program but also on other similar instruments in different European Union countries (Spain, Sweden, Hungary, Greece, Portugal, France, etc. ), conclude that there are a number of factors that affect community development, the influence of European funding being often small or insignificant.…”