Within the framework of the research focused on the polarization of space, or peripheral areas of Czechia respectively, approaches of cultural geography have been applied to a significant extent recently. As far as the issue of such areas development is concerned, the importance of the so- called "soft" socio-cultural development factors (including social and human capital) has been accentuated. The way-out is the belief that with the limited development potential of the peripheral (and rural) areas, activity and activism of local communities (quality of social and human capital) as the important internal (endogenous) development factor become more important. Despite the number of attempts, which have been made, we are not able to find exhaustive answers to questions relating to the actual importance of social and human capital (and different forms thereof) in the (socio-economic) development of these areas or the mutual relation (conditionality) thereof. For this reason, problems can be seen both in the area of theory and methodology (conceptualization) and, in particular, in insufficient verification of such theoretical concepts by means of empirical research, be specific in particular at the micro-regional up to local level. The dissertation therefore focuses on identification and explanation of...

The state plays a prominent role in the process of regional development. State interventions might bring radical influences into the entire socioeconomic system, to which the other actors of regional development have to adapt. Importantly, the state administrates a large amount of funds, creates large numbers of jobs, and it is led by "elites" which might influence the other people's opinions. The need for studying of the role of the state and the expenditure side of its budget for an understanding of the mechanisms of regional development is recognized by many authors. However, deep discussions of the function of the state could be hardly found in regional development theories. The aim of this dissertation thesis is to contribute to understanding of the role of the state as one of major actors in regional development via investigation of the regional impacts of public support programs. To provide concrete scrutiny, parliamentary grants (so-called "pork barrel") were depicted through which deputies annually sent large sums of money from the state budget during its approval process in the Chamber of Deputies on projects with local impact. The topic of parliamentary grants is a traditional topic for international studies within the concept of the so-called pork barrel politics, which includes all activities...

This study is based on interviews with local business owners in the Brazilian municipality of Maricá, Rio deJaneiro, conducted in November 2021. The municipality receives royalties from the rich oil reserves that werefound in the bottom of the pre-salt area of the Atlantic Ocean, and has implemented a basic income programcalled Renda Básica de Cidadania (RBC). The RBC benefit is paid through a social digital currency via the localcommunity bank, which is a model developed by the Conjunto Palmeiras in Fortaleza that has spread throughoutBrazil as the ‘Palmas model’. The Palmas model does not include a basic income but uses community banks todevelop a ‘solidarity economy’ with a local social currency, whose circulation is restricted to within thecommunity. This thesis discusses how the RBC interacts with the Palmas model and considers potentialproblems and solutions arising in the case of Maricá in relation to local economic development, political trustand political participation. The study uses previous research about basic income, social currencies, solidarityeconomies, political trust and political participation to look at how public institutions and civil society interactwith the local market in Maricá. The study also investigates how this relationship is affected by the basic incomeprogram and by the move toward a solidarity economy with a local social currency.The study finds that the business owners who were interviewed participated in the implementation of the RBCthrough their usage of the social currency Mumbuca. They have accepted the social currency and the use ofMumbuca is well consolidated and normalized as a currency among the local business owners interviewed.They do not participate in any more active way in the community bank, but the study shows that through theiruse of the currency they are important actors for the consolidation of a solidarity economy in the municipality ofMaricá. The study shows that the respondents did not see the RBC as a basic income, but as a cash-transfer tothe poor. The majority of respondents believed that the implementation of the RBC and the social currency hadcontributed to the local economic development of the municipality, but that the main factor in the localeconomic development was the wealth of the municipality. The study shows that the respondents' level of trusttoward public institutions was considerably high.

This work explores the connections between the constructed representations of places based on local histories, the processes of tradition reinvention and the strategies of regional development in two Russian regions. This analysis also outlines the context created by the external to the regions influences and the associated with them local conditions.

The purpose of this study was to examine the dynamics between spirituality and development. The point of departure for the study took place in Rishikesh and Dharamsala, in India. Our main object was to examine the role of the Divine Life Society (DLS), in Rishikesh and the Tibetan government in exile, in Dharamsala, in terms of local development. To achieve a solid platform regarding the theoretical framework, relevant studies were made in Hinduism and Buddhism. The study shows that there is a connection between religion and development. Nevertheless, this connection is not unequivocal, hence, in comparison, the results shows differences between the two objects studied. The conclusion of this study is that although there is a connection between spirituality and local development, spirituality in itself doesn’t mean development.

Les secteurs manufacturiers de nombreux pays ont vu leurs parts dans les économies nationales décliner depuis plus de 20 ans, et le Québec n’en fait pas exception. Bouleversé par des ralentissements économiques et des signatures d’accords de libre-échange, ce secteur autrefois prédominant dans la province a vu son pourcentage de produit intérieur brut et sa proportion d’emploi continuellement diminué lors des dernières décennies. Plusieurs causes permettent d’expliquer ce déclin, telles que la libéralisation du commerce international, l’appréciation des devises et la délocalisation d’entreprises manufacturières. Cependant, les crises récentes, comme la pandémie de COVID-19 et les perturbations dans les chaînes d’approvisionnement internationales, ont démontré la pertinence d’avoir accès à des systèmes de productions locales afin de soutenir la résilience économique locale et une plus grande autonomie lors de ces crises. Dans ce contexte, ce mémoire cherche à explorer les leviers et les freins de la production locale de meubles et d’objets de maison au Québec, en s’attardant aux petites entreprises utilisant des échelles de production de moyenne série, une échelle particulièrement utilisée chez les PME, qui constitue la majorité des entreprises du secteur manufacturier québécois. Plus précisément, il pose la question suivante : quelles leçons tirer d’expériences d’entreprises œuvrant dans le secteur manufacturier de meubles produit localement au Québec à des échelles de production de moyenne série ? Afin de répondre à cette question, une recherche qualitative mettant de l’avant l’analyse documentaire et des entretiens semi-dirigés avec des personnes œuvrant dans des entreprises différentes possédant des expériences riches et pertinentes dans les mises en production de moyennes séries a permis de documenter ce secteur. Cette collecte de données a permis, dans un premier temps, de caractériser le domaine de production de meubles conçu et fabriqué localement, et, dans un second temps, d’identifier les grandes lignes de modèles de production viables dans une échelle de production de moyenne série. Les résultats de cette étude montrent que les d’entreprises intégrant l’ensemble des activités de fabrication à l’interne, et mettant de l’avant des types de productions variées (comme la fabrication à l’ordre combiné à la fabrication pour inventaire) sont en mesure d’être plus résilientes. De plus, celles qui entretiennent des partenariats avec des entreprises concurrentes seraient plus autonomes et entretiendraient des relations plus pérennes avec des fournisseurs locaux. / The manufacturing sectors in many countries have seen their share of national economies decline over the past 20 years, and Quebec is no exception. Shaken by economic downturns and the signing of free trade agreements, this once-dominant sector in the province has seen its percentage of gross domestic product and its share of employment decline steadily over the past few decades. There are several reasons for this decline, such as the liberalization of international trade, currency appreciation and the relocation of manufacturing companies. However, recent crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and disruptions in international supply chains, have demonstrated the relevance of having access to local production systems to support local economic resilience and greater autonomy during these crises. In this context, this paper seeks to explore the levers and obstacles of local furniture and object production in Quebec, focusing on small firms using medium-scale production, a scale particularly used by SMEs, which constitute most firms in the Quebec manufacturing sector. More specifically, it asks the following question: what lessons can be learned from the experiences of firms operating in the manufacturing sector of locally produced furniture and objects in Quebec at medium production scales? To answer this question, a qualitative research based on documentary analysis and semi-directed interviews with people working in different companies with rich and relevant experiences in the production of medium-sized series allowed to document this sector. This data collection allowed, firstly, to characterize the field of production of locally designed and manufactured objects, and, secondly, to identify the main lines of viable production models in a scale of medium series production. The results of this study show that firms that integrate all manufacturing activities in-house and put forward various types of production (such as make-to-order combined with make-to-stock) are able to be more resilient. In addition, those that partner with competitive firms would be more self-sufficient and have more sustainable relationships with local suppliers.

Rural revitalization is a major concern in many developed countries where rural exodus depopulated thecountryside, including France where some rural areas suffer from demographic and economic decline. In thefirst times of the Covid 19 crisis, the perspective of an urban exodus was largely raised in the developedcountries’ press. The idea was that the pandemic was sparking disenchantment with the urban lifestyleleading to mass migration from the big cities to the countryside, thus fostering rural revitalization, possibly ata wide scale. Therefore, the aim of this study is on the one hand, to understand this Urban Exodusphenomenon and its significance in the French context through press and literature review. On the otherhand, the aim is to investigate if and how this phenomenon impacts rural revitalization, by focusing on thecases of the rural municipalities Saint-Fraimbault and Mamers. We find that the vision of the Urban Exodusfirst conveyed by the media was distorted: there has been no global reorganization of spatial and migratorypatterns in France, even though more people have been moving towards an area with a lesser populationdensity. The host territories include rural areas that were in decline before the pandemic, where the UrbanExodus represents a potential in terms of demographic and economic recovery, as well as a challenge for theirrural identity and their development model. The case studies show that the effects of the Urban Exodus onrural revitalization are not uniform. They suggest that the effects may depend on the initial developmentstrategy of the municipality. In the case of Mamers indeed, the Urban Exodus was experienced as anopportunity while the phenomenon did not have significant effects in Saint-Fraimbault.

Inscrite dans la tradition monographique en sociologie et en anthropologie, cette thèse prend pour objet la diversité des pratiques et des idéologies caractéristiques des différents types de populations rurales distingués en fonction de l'enracinement territorial, afin d'apporter un nouvel éclairage sur les conflits sociaux actuels dans tous les milieux ruraux québécois qui surgissent notamment de l'accroissement du nombre des néo-ruraux dont les visions du monde s'opposent à celles des agriculteurs, dont le nombre diminue sans cesse. Prenant un village comme observatoire, il s'agit de rendre compte du mouvement totalisant de l'expérience de la vie en société à la fois dans ses dimensions « matérielles » et « symboliques ». L'étude des principales formes de vie sociale (religieuse, économique et politique) se fait grâce à des méthodes diversifiées: l'observation participante, l'analyse statistique, l'analyse du discours, le travail sur les archives municipales et l'histoire orale. L'analyse des différentes formes de vie sociale montre que leur organisation est structurée par deux principaux modèles. Le modèle public et communautaire comprend les personnes qui valorisent l'implication de l'État et des professionnels dans la gestion collective de la redistribution des richesses et dans le développement des milieux ruraux. Ces personnes occupent une position économique « marginale » à l'intérieur de la localité et sont plus près des milieux urbains tant par leurs positions que par leurs visions du monde. Quant au modèle privé et familial, il comprend les personnes défendant le rôle prépondérant des réseaux familiaux dans le développement local et la fermeture de la localité face à la concurrence des marchés extérieurs et aux interventions politiques exogènes. Les représentants de ce modèle occupent une position économique locale dominante, mais se sentent de plus en plus dominés politiquement face aux interventions extérieures des représentants politiques régionaux et des professionnels ainsi qu'économiquement à l'échelle mondiale où ils occupent une position dominée. Les oppositions sous-jacentes à ces deux modèles s'inscrivent dans une histoire ancienne qui met en scène d'une part les élites traditionnelles liées à l'Église et les notables francophones scolarisées et d'autre part les élites industrielles et commerciales qui succèdent aux anglophones dès les années 1920. Le sens et le contenu des modèles varient légèrement avec les transformations récentes de la structure familiale et la régionalisation des pouvoirs politiques et religieux. / Pertaining to the monographic tradition in sociology and anthropology, this dissertation is about the diversity of the practices and ideologies of the different kinds of rural populations, which are in turn distinguished according to their "territorial establishment". I aim to shed a new light on the ongoing social conflicts in all of Quebec's countryside that are due to the increase of "new-inhabitants" whose world views are in opposition to the always decreasing farmers. With a village as observatory, I account for the "totalizing movement" of the social life experience in both its material and symbolic dimensions. I study the main forms of life (religious, economic, and political) with multivarious methods: "participant observation", statistical analysis, analysis of discourse, as well as the municipal archives and oral history. The analysis of the diverse forms of social life shows that they are organized according to two main models: the public and communautarian model, and the private and familial one. The former model comprises individuals who value the State's and professionals interference in the redistribution of goods as well as in the development of the countryside. These individuals occupy a marginal economic position in the village, and their positions and world views are closer to urban individuals. As for the private and familial model, it comprises individuals who defends both the predominant role of family network in the development of the village, and the separation of the village from the exogenous market competition and political interventions. This model's representatives occupy a local dominant economic position, but feel more and more politically dominated in the regional political scene by their representatives and professionals, as well as in the world economy where they occupy a dominated position. The underlying oppositions of these two models are anchored in an age-old history that displays, on the one hand, the traditional elite associated to the Church and the francophone educated notaries, and, on the other hand, the industrial and commercial elite that succeeded to the Anglophones in the 1920s. The meaning and content of the models lightly vary with recent transformations in the family structure and with the regionalization of the political and religious powers.

Les lois de la décentralisation ont métamorphosé l'interventionnisme public en termes d'acteurs, de contenus et de méthodes. Les collectivités territoriales ont, ainsi, pu mettre en oeuvre, pour développer leur territoire, des politiques d'attractivité dans le cadre de la libre administration. Les principes de libre administration et d'autonomie, fondements, même relatifs, des pouvoirs locaux, ont entrainé à la fois un changement dans les rapports collectivités territoriales - pouvoir central et collectivités entre elles-mêmes ; et un foisonnement des projets et des instruments de mise en oeuvre des politiques publiques. Bien que les politiques locales de développement soient réalisées dans un cadre juridique constitutionnel, légal et règlementaire, leur complexité interroge l'imbrication des responsabilités, et la cohérence et la cohésion des mécanismes de leur élaboration et de leur mise en oeuvre. La dimension juridique recoupe ainsi d'autres considérations politiques et économiques qui interviennent dans la construction d'une politique territoriale. / The laws of decentralization have transformed public interventionism in terms of actors,content and methods. Local authorities have thus implemented attractiveness policies in thecontext of self-government to develop their territory. The principles of self-government and autonomy, foundations of local government, have led to both a change in their relationship with the central government and the proliferation of projects and instruments of implementation of public policies. Although local development policies are carried out in a constitutional, legal and regulatory legal framework, their complexity calls into question thelinks between responsibilities, and the coherence and cohesion of the mechanisms of their development and implementation. This legal dimension intersects with other political and economic considerations in the construction of a territorial policy.

La recherche porte sur l’action collective locale et la gestion des forêts communautaires à Djoum au Sud Cameroun. Elle analyse l’approche gouvernementale d’octroi et de gestion communautaire des ressources forestières, afin de responsabiliser et d’autonomiser les communautés villageoises dans la prise en charge des activités de production économique pour réduire la pauvreté, améliorer les conditions de vie et assurer le développement local. L’objectif est de rendre compte de la capacité des forêts communautaires à fournir des avantages économiques pour répondre à ce défi. C’est aussi pour rendre compte des territoires villageois, vus comme l’échelle de référence pour la gouvernance des forêts communautaires et de l’influence de l’identité spatiale sur l’organisation communautaire de cette gestion. La méthodologie mise en œuvre est pluridisciplinaire. Les résultats de notre étude montrent plusieurs faiblesses structurelles. Les forêts communautaires étudiées sont des espaces spécialisés en plusieurs zones, correspondant chacune à des usages particuliers. Cette perspective exclue l’exploitation du bois d’œuvre sur toute la surface de l’espace forestier. Pourtant toutes les forêts communautaires sont divisées en secteurs quinquennaux, eux-mêmes divisés en parcelles annuelles d’exploitation de bois. Ensuite, ces forêts ont été fortement perturbées dans le passé, un indicateur qui devrait les destiner plus à la conservation qu’à l’exploitation. Mais ce n’est pas le cas, toutes les communautés ou presque, ayant opté pour leur exploitation. De même, les volumes de bois exploités dans ces forêts sont très faibles, ce qui atteste clairement que les possibilités qu’on leur attribue dans les plans simples de gestion sont fausses. Au plan des réalisations socioéconomiques et des emplois créés, le bilan est très loin des espoirs engendrés. Les quelques emplois créés sont de type temporaire, précaires et non qualifiés. Par ailleurs, l’exploitation du bois d’œuvre n’a généré jusqu’ici, aucune infrastructure ni réalisation socioéconomique collectives, puisque les revenus ex post générés restent largement inférieurs aux prévisions financières ex ante. Enfin, ces forêts sont assises sur des espaces appropriés. Cette situation soulève des équivoques sur leur statut supposé de biens communs et pose la question du partage de leurs retombées économiques. D’autres faiblesses dites conjoncturelles existent et expliquent la léthargie dans laquelle sombre l’organisation communautaire de la gestion des forêts. Nos résultats ont montré la défaillance des acteurs communautaires à se situer par rapport à leur objectif. Leurs capacités à s’approprier un projet et à mettre en œuvre une vraie stratégie de mobilisation collective sont également défaillantes. Le manque de solidarité communautaire et la non valorisation des savoirs et savoir-faire locaux rendent les communautés vulnérables dans les partenariats qu’ils nouent et renforcent le poids et l’influence des acteurs extérieurs. Sur les territoires villageois comme échelle de référence pour la gouvernance des forêts communautaires, l’étude a montré que ceux-ci apparaissent comme des lieux d’expression des divisions, des dissensions, de fabrique des soupçons et gouvernés par l’individualisme. Les organisations communautaires sont à leur tour décrites comme des dispositifs de mise à distance, minés par les pressions exercées par les acteurs porteurs de logiques différentes, des stéréotypes et des représentations qui inhibent plutôt l’action collective communautaire. Ce sont aussi des dispositifs contrôlés par l’appât du gain. Les forêts communautaires produisant peu ou pas d’argent, la démobilisation collective ici prend alors tout son sens.L’étude s’achève avec les perspectives à envisager pour faire de l'action collective locale l'outil sans lequel l’atteinte des objectifs d’amélioration des conditions de vie, de réduction de la pauvreté et les perspectives de développement local, n'est pas envisageable. / The research focuses on local collective action and management of community forests in southern Cameroon, at Djoum. It analyzes the government’s approach for granting and community management of forest resources, in order to empower and empowering village communities in the management of economic production activities to reduce poverty, improve living conditions and ensure local development. The objective is to realize the capacity of community forests to provide economic benefits to meet this challenge. It is also to account for village territories, seen as the reference scale for the governance of community forests and the influence of the spatial identity on community organization of this management. The implementation methodology is multidisciplinary. The results of our study show several structural weaknesses. First, it appears that the studied community forests are spaces specialized in several areas, each corresponding to particular uses. This perspective excludes timber exploitation on the entire surface of forest area. Yet all Community forests are divided into five-year sectors, themselves divided into annual surfaces of timber exploitation. Then, these forests have been heavily disturbed in the past, an indicator that should send these more to conservation than the exploitation. But this is not the case, all communities or almost, having opted for their exploitation. Similarly, the volumes of wood exploited in these forests are very low, which clearly demonstrates that the possibilities that ascribed to them in the management simple plan are false. In terms of socio-economic achievements and jobs created, the balance sheet is very far from begotten hopes. The few jobs created are temporary, precarious and unqualified. Moreover, the exploitation of timber has generated so far here, neither infrastructure nor collective socio-economic achievement, since ex post generated incomes remain far below ex-ante financial forecast of timber exploitation. Finally, these forests are sitting on appropriate spaces. This raises ambiguities about their supposed status of common goods and raises the question of sharing of their benefits. Others cyclical said weaknesses exist and explain the lethargy into which sinks community organization of forest management. Our results showed the failure of community actors to position themselves in relation to their objective. Their capacities to take a project and to implement a genuine strategy of collective mobilization are also failing. The lack of Community solidarity and the not valorization of local knowledge make vulnerable communities in the partnerships they formed and strengthen the weight and influence of external actors. On village territories as reference scale for the governance of community forests, the study showed that these appear as places of expression of divisions, conflict, and factory of the suspicions and governed by individualism. Community organizations are in turn, described as devices remotely, undermined by pressures from actors of different logics, stereotypes and representations that inhibit rather community collective action. They are also devices controlled by the lure of profit. Community forests producing little or no money, the collective demobilization here makes sense then. The study ends with the perspective to consider for making the local collective action the tool without which the achievement of the objectives of improving the living conditions, poverty reduction and the prospects for local development, is not possible.