Mokslinių darbų, teoriškai ar praktiškai akcentuojančių periferingumo tematiką išties yra nemažai, tačiau iki šiol nėra aiškiai ir galutinai apibrėžta periferinio regiono samprata, be to, retai kalbama apie periferizacijos procesą ar nustatomas regionų periferingumo laipsnis. Periferijos tyrimuose jaučiamas geografinio-kompleksinio požiūrio į periferiją trūkumas. Mokslų integracija analizuojant pasirinktą problemą yra viena pagrindinių rekomendacijų, kadangi siauras požiūris į periferiją nebeatitinka šių dienų aktualijų, nes stabdo ne tik objekto sampratos vystymąsi, bet ir apriboja pačios periferijos kaip teritorinio reiškinio pažinimo galimybes. Šiuo moksliniu darbu siekiama užpildyti trūkstamą periferingumo tyrimų nišą ir prisidėti prie periferijos kompleksinės geografinės sampratos vystymo. Disertacijoje periferijos kompleksinis vertinimas atliekamas remiantis septyniais vertinimo aspektais: pasiekiamumo, demografiniu, socialiniu, ekonominiu, kultūriniu, politiniu bei gamtiniu. Šis disertacinis darbas – tai bandymas, apjungiant įvairių sričių rodiklius, pateikti kompleksinį požiūrį į periferiją, remiantis statistikos rodiklių reikšmėmis išskirti skirtingo periferingumo laipsnio periferinius regionus Lietuvos teritorijoje. / There are a lot of scientific papers, which theoretically or practically accentuate the topic of peripherality, however, the conception of peripheral region is not still clearly and finally defined, moreover, it is rarely talked about the process of peripheralisation or the level of peripherality of region is determined. It is felt the lack of the geographic-complex view to the periphery. While analyzing the selected problem the integration of sciences is one of the main recommendations as the narrow attitude to the periphery does not conform to the topicalities of these days because it stops not only the development of conception of object but also limits the cognitive possibilities of periphery itself as the territorial phenomenon. By this scientific paper it is tried to fill the deficient part of researches on peripherality and add to the development of complex geographical conception of periphery. In the dissertation thesis the complex evaluation is performed taking into account seven aspects: dislocation, demographic, social, economic, cultural, political and natural. This dissertation paper is an attempt to present the complex attitude to the periphery while including the indicators of various fields, with reference to the values of statistical indicators to distinguish the peripheral regions of different level peripherality in the territory of Lithuania.

Mokslinių darbų, teoriškai ar praktiškai akcentuojančių periferingumo tematiką išties yra nemažai, tačiau iki šiol nėra aiškiai ir galutinai apibrėžta periferinio regiono samprata, be to, retai kalbama apie periferizacijos procesą ar nustatomas regionų periferingumo laipsnis. Periferijos tyrimuose jaučiamas geografinio-kompleksinio požiūrio į periferiją trūkumas. Mokslų integracija analizuojant pasirinktą problemą yra viena pagrindinių rekomendacijų, kadangi siauras požiūris į periferiją nebeatitinka šių dienų aktualijų, nes stabdo ne tik objekto sampratos vystymąsi, bet ir apriboja pačios periferijos kaip teritorinio reiškinio pažinimo galimybes. Šiuo moksliniu darbu siekiama užpildyti trūkstamą periferingumo tyrimų nišą ir prisidėti prie periferijos kompleksinės geografinės sampratos vystymo. Disertacijoje periferijos kompleksinis vertinimas atliekamas remiantis septyniais vertinimo aspektais: pasiekiamumo, demografiniu, socialiniu, ekonominiu, kultūriniu, politiniu bei gamtiniu. Šis disertacinis darbas – tai bandymas, apjungiant įvairių sričių rodiklius, pateikti kompleksinį požiūrį į periferiją, remiantis statistikos rodiklių reikšmėmis išskirti skirtingo periferingumo laipsnio periferinius regionus Lietuvos teritorijoje. / There are a lot of scientific papers, which theoretically or practically accentuate the topic of peripherality, however, the conception of peripheral region is not still clearly and finally defined, moreover, it is rarely talked about the process of peripheralisation or the level of peripherality of region is determined. It is felt the lack of the geographic-complex view to the periphery. While analyzing the selected problem the integration of sciences is one of the main recommendations as the narrow attitude to the periphery does not conform to the topicalities of these days because it stops not only the development of conception of object but also limits the cognitive possibilities of periphery itself as the territorial phenomenon. By this scientific paper it is tried to fill the deficient part of researches on peripherality and add to the development of complex geographical conception of periphery. In the dissertation thesis the complex evaluation is performed taking into account seven aspects: dislocation, demographic, social, economic, cultural, political and natural. This dissertation paper is an attempt to present the complex attitude to the periphery while including the indicators of various fields, with reference to the values of statistical indicators to distinguish the peripheral regions of different level peripherality in the territory of Lithuania.

Disparities between regions in Sweden and the EU have been discussed in different fields throughout the years. Norrland, which is the northernmost region of Sweden, has long been recognised as being disadvantaged in comparison to the rest of the country and could be argued to have been peripheralised for centuries. The inland of Norrland is described to be even more affected by these disparities. One of the counties in the inland of Norrland is Jämtland county. The aim of this thesis was to explore how planners and other relevant actors involved in strategic planning and regional development in Jämtland portray possibilities and challenges with planning and how they described their action space in relation to the urban norm and peripheralisation. The results show that there are differences in the municipalities' self-identity regarding whether they describe themselves to be in a weaker or stronger position within the county, both in relation to strategic planning and development, but also to what extent they define themselves as peripheral and affected by the urban norm. This indicates that there is an ongoing peripheralisation process also within Jämtland county, where some municipalities are trying to assert their position as stronger while the others are feeling blamed for creating their own problems. The municipalities want to create attractiveness which could be argued to be a way of them trying to counteract the consequences of peripheralisation.

This dissertation offers insights into the use of ideas in policies designed to address uneven territorial development in regions outside metropolitan areas in the European Union (EU). The focus is on integrated territorial development policies which draw on the notion of territorial cohesion in two different national contexts within the EU: Germany and Romania. The theoretical background of the thesis traces how territorial disparities are addressed in key theoretical paradigms which have influenced regional development thinking. Integrated territorial development is singled out as a key policy approach designed to overcome development disparities by tapping into underutilised endogenous assets and knowledge as part of a cross-sectoral vision within a defined space (be it an urban, rural, or regional context). Forward-thinking as this approach strives to be, it faces fundamental challenges in places which have been grappling with a rise of economic, social, and political disparities for many years. Understanding these processes through the relational concept of peripheralisation steers research towards engaging with people’s perceptions of spatial disparities and policies designed to address them. The conceptual framework of the thesis is designed around principles which enable an interpretive analysis of public policy. This mode of inquiry is based on an anti-foudnationalist ontology and a constructivist epistemology. The cornerstone of this approach is understanding policy actions as indeterminate, prone to unintended consequences, and fundamentally shaped by the backtalk of the complex social system it seeks to influence. Policy-making and implementing is hence viewed as a setting in which disparate and contingent beliefs and actions of individuals come together to shape a temporarily concerted course of actions. Different types of policy ideas (in many cases belonging to different schools of thought) hence come together in a process of policy framing where policy substance, actors’ identities and relationships, and the policy process are shaped. To operationalise this framework, the methodological design of this research follows an abductive mode of scientific inquiry which pursues an iterative engagement with the field and the theory. The empirical research is designed around two case study regions – the Chemnitz Region in The Free State of Saxony (one of Germany’s 16 federal states) and the North-West Region in Romania. The rationale behind the selection of the case studies was to choose regions in starkly different policy contexts, yet which are as similar as possible in terms of their socio-economic development trajectories. The study analyses three policy instruments: integrated urban development funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), integrated rural development funded through the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and regional development planning initiatives. The primary data stems from 43 semi-structured expert interviews conducted with 46 policy practitioners and experts. Policy documents, local and regional strategies, and statistics have served as a source of secondary data. The analytical approach draws on principles of grounded theory for inductively developing theoretical categories and establishing causal explanations in the form of mid-level, provisional theories. The first block of the analysis engages with the substance of integrated territorial development policies and strategies, showcasing different interpretations of territorial cohesion in national contexts. Governments in both contexts view territorial cohesion as a means of strengthening the governance and coordination of policies, with a focus on local development conditions. Nonetheless, little emphasis is put on the competitive polycentric development approach, balanced development, and the environmental dimensions. In both studied contexts, polarised development is grasped as an inevitable approach for overcoming broad regional structural weaknesses. The second analytical block engages with policy processes which underpin the implementation of integrated territorial development strategies. This serves to highlight the settings in which policy-relevant actors apply the integrated instruments available to them. The analysis centres on the separation of urban from rural development, the ownership of the goals pursued through integrated development and the ensuing impact on actors’ motivation to engage with complex policy procedures, and the role of experts in guiding policy beneficiaries The final block of the analysis touches on the problematisation of peripheralisation in relation to integrated development instruments in four domains: demographic change, structural economic shifts, infrastructures and services of general interest, and place identity and marketing. These domains are not tied to any specific policies, but have rather emerged as salient in the inductive analysis. The research concludes with a number of open questions and suggestions for policy makers. A key observation is that the notion of territorial cohesion itself tends to bring little value added to policy programmes, as many topics are already addressed in bespoke national normative concepts and policy programmes. Far from being an end-state, territorial cohesion comes across as a process which is shaped by contrasting perceptions on competitive and balanced development; by centralised and devolved modes of governance; by functional territorial planning or network-based development windows of opportunity. The added value of policies which draw on territorial cohesion to address territorial disparities may lay in bringing the perspective of peripheralised policy communities to the forefront of the debate and enabling innovative forms of cooperation.:Preface and acknowledgments – iii Table of contents – vii List of figures and tables – xi Abbreviations – xv Introduction – 1 PART I: THEORETICAL, CONCEPTUAL, AND METHODOLOGICAL GROUNDS 1. Theoretical insights into territorial cohesion and disparities in the EU – 15 1.1. Key shifts in regional development policy thinking – 15 1.1.1. The neoliberalisation of regional and local development – 16 1.1.2. The neoliberalising logic of strategic spatial planning – 23 1.1.3. New approaches towards development policies – 24 1.2. Normative and policy dimensions of territorial cohesion – 26 1.2.1. Establishing European planning concepts – 27 1.2.2. Dimensions of territorial cohesion and its integrative role – 30 1.3. Towards a relational understanding of territorial disparities – 36 1.3.1. Understanding territorial disparities through peripheralisation – 36 1.3.2. Ideational dependency in development policies – 39 1.4. Territorial cohesion and peripheralisation: research perspectives – 40 2. Conceptual framework – 43 2.1. Policy analysis: a constructivist perspective – 44 2.1.1. The case for an anti-foundationalist ontology of public policy – 45 2.1.2. Policy analysis in an interpretive epistemology – 49 2.2. Understanding the role of prominent policy ideas – 52 2.2.1. Decentering political science – 53 2.2.2. Prominent policy ideas: an interpretive perspective – 54 2.3. Reflexive agency in public policy – 56 2.3.1. Putting travelling ideas to use in policy design processes – 56 2.3.2. Policy frames and policy framing – 61 2.4. Guiding principles – 64 3. Methodology – 67 3.1. Interpretive analysis in spatial policy research – 68 3.2. Research design – 72 3.2.1. Key principles – 72 3.2.2. Comparing two case studies – 75 3.2.3. Generating theory: principles and quality criteria – 79 3.3. Methods – 85 3.3.1. Qualitative interviewing – 85 3.3.2. Policy and document analysis – 90 3.4. Case and respondent selection – 91 3.4.1. Selecting regions in Germany and Romania – 91 3.4.2. Selecting respondents – 95 PART II: CONTEXT 4. The administrative context of integrated territorial development policies – 105 4.1. The ESI funds and the Cohesion Policy: a brief overview – 106 4.1.1. The key aims of the ESI funds – 107 4.1.2. EU priorities for the Cohesion Policy – 108 4.1.3. Integrated territorial development – 110 4.2. Planning and regional development in Saxony and Romania – 112 4.2.1. Saxony – 113 4.2.2. Romania – 114 4.3. Policy instruments for integrated territorial development – 115 4.3.1. Saxony – 115 4.3.2. Romania – 120 4.4. Policy directions – 125 5. Territorial structures of, and development trends in the studied regions – 127 5.1. Territorial structures – 127 5.1.1. The Chemnitz region in Saxony – 127 5.1.2. The North-West region in Romania – 130 5.2. Population and demography – 133 5.3. Transport infrastructure – 135 5.4. Economic profiles – 139 5.4.1. Employment concentration – 139 5.4.2. Commuting – 142 5.4.3. Economic sectors - 142 PART III: EMPIRICAL FINDINGS 6. The substance of integrated territorial development policies and strategies – 149 6.1. Normative positions on territorial cohesion – 149 6.1.1. Normative Positions – 150 6.1.2. Linking the storylines – 152 6.1.3. Key remarks – 153 6.2. The substance of governmental policies – 155 6.2.1. Categorising space: the inevitability of polarised development – 157 6.2.2. The role of integrated territorial development policies – 163 6.3. The substance of local and regional strategies – 169 6.3.1. Integrated Rural Development Plans – 169 6.3.2. Integrated Urban Development Plans – 174 7. Ideas in action: making sense of integrated territorial development – 189 7.1.Practical constraints and affordances of using integrated instruments – 189 7.1.1. The urban-rural split in ESI-funded instruments – 189 7.1.2. Centralising the ownership of European goals – 196 7.2. The role of experts in framing integrated responses – 203 7.2.1. Experts’ roles beyond bureaucracies – 204 7.2.2. Attuning expertise to local conditions – 204 7.2.3. Conveying expertise at a regional level and beyond – 208 7.3. From ideas to action – 210 7.3.1. Fostering motivation – 210 7.3.2. Eroding trust through complex bureaucracies – 215 8. Problematising integrated development: a local-regional perspective – 219 8.1. Demographic change – 219 8.2. Structural economic shifts – 225 8.2.1. Regional economies in transition – 226 8.2.2. Towards competitive territories – 231 8.3. Infrastructures and public services – 235 8.3.1. In-between adaptation and expansion – 236 8.3.2. Key remarks – 240 8.4. Place identity and marketing – 240 8.5. From problems to perceptions of cumulative disadvantages – 247 PART IV: CONCLUSIONS 9. Conclusions and implications – 255 9.1. Summary of the research approach. Key findings – 255 9.1.1. Research approach and theoretical anchors – 255 9.1.2 Policy ideas and their role in policy framing 258 9.2. Reflections and implications – 264 9.2.1. Methodological reflections – 265 9.2.2. Policy implications – 266 9.2.3. Perspectives for further research – 269 References – 271 APPENDICES Appendix 1: Analysed policy documents – 301 Appendix 2: Analysed strategies – 303 Appendix 3: Details about the interviews – 305 Appendix 4: List of original quotes – 311

At a time when scholars have rekindled the old debate about what is world literature and how can one study it (Casanova, 2004; Moretti, 2000, 2003; Damrosch, 2003, 2009), this thesis analyses the canonisation of Central American Revolutionary women's writing as it moves toward the 'centre' and becomes part of the world literary canon. Drawing on a core-periphery systemic model, this thesis examines how translation for the Anglophone market involves the marginalisation at various levels of the narratives of political radicalism and the erotic that feature in the life writing works of Gioconda Belli, Claribel Alegría and Rigoberta Menchú. The dataset chosen for this study consists of the Spanish originals and English translations of La mujer habitada (1988) and El país bajo mi piel (2001) by Belli; No me agarran viva (1983) and Luisa en el país de la realidad (1987) by Alegría, in collaboration with her husband Darwin J. Flakoll; and Me llamo Rigoberta Menchú (1983) and Rigoberta: La nieta de los mayas (1998) by Menchú. To develop this core-periphery systemic model, I have drawn on the work of scholars in the field of the sociology of translation such as Pascale Casanova (2004), Johan Heilbron (1999, 2010) and Gisèle Sapiro (2008). In the context of the study, peripheralisation has been reconceptualised to assist in locating the texts included in the dataset within a hierarchical power structure (external level of peripheralisation); and identifying the shifts that arise during the translation and circulation of the ontological and public narratives underpinning such texts (internal level of peripheralisation). The study of the internal level of peripheralisation will draw on narrative theory, as elaborated by Margaret Somers and Gloria Gibson (1994), Somers (1997) and Mona Baker (2006). The choice of narrative theory employed in the thesis aims to foreground the impact that translation and the publishing field have on the selection and consecration of a literary genre; facilitate the comparison between the texts and paratexts of the originals and their English translations, and disclose the mechanisms through which the agency of the woman/author is neutralised, and the narratives of sexuality, body, political radicalism and feminine subjectivity are constructed in the original and reinterpreted through translation. This comparative (para)textual analysis questions the nature of the process by which peripheral texts have accessed the Western canon. In light of the findings, the thesis advocates the need to redefine the concept of canonisation in order to acknowledge a possible conflict between the new assumed centrality of the consecrated/translated text and the layers of peripheralisation that might still be constraining the original narratives. Secondly, these findings draw attention to a gap in world literatures scholarship. By assuming the autonomy of literature as an artistic form, world literature scholars might be in danger of obscuring the potential for manipulation inherent in translation practice, particularly in spaces favouring domesticating approaches to translation. Thirdly, this work aims to serve as a reminder to scholars and activists not to overlook the impact of literary translation on the circulation of theories and narratives, particularly in the case of highly canonical texts such as that of Rigoberta Menchú (1984).

Peripheralisation is a process to which a person, a group or an area might be subjected to. Stigmatisation, selective migration, disconnection, dependence and social exclusion are dimensions of peripheralisation that are interconnected and that accelerate each other’s effects. Structurally disadvantaged rural areas, especially remote small villages in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) are particularly affected by the processes of peripheralisation. While economic decline and ethnic exclusion produced contagious “ghettoes” (Virág 2010) or “internal colonies” (Kóczé 2011) in the last two decades in structurally disadvantaged small villages of Hungary, in the German context the phenomenon of a “rural ghetto” seems to be non-existent. In Germany, mainly East German old industrial towns and rural areas are affected by peripheralisation, selective out-migration, demographic shrinking and demographisation are emphasised here. Ethnographic research in the case study villages of Eastern Germany and Hungary confirmed that peripheralisation is relational and amongst others national and regional social policies influence how it manifests on the local level. While areas undergoing moderate peripheralisation were able to attract counter-cultural migrants (“back-to-the-landers“, Calvário and Otero 2015), who further counteracted peripheralisation processes, socially excluded people (Roma and long-term unemployed) accumulated in areas undergoing advanced peripheralisation. While counter-cultural migrants (case study G1 and H3), who follow a critique of materialist mainstream culture, modern farming practices, and the globalization of the agri-food systems, were free to decide where to live, the inhabitants of areas undergoing advanced peripheralisation (H2) got locked into spaces which are abandoned by the state, investors and the majority society (non-Roma people). As class, gender, ethnicity and place of residence influences autonomy, the individual and collective autonomy of the counter-cultural migrants is on a higher level than the autonomy of the inhabitants of areas undergoing advanced peripheralisation. As local initiatives (social and solidarity economy initiatives or rural social enterprises) are created to counteract processes of peripheralisation, the central question of this research is: In the context of peripheralisation how can social and solidarity economy initiatives contribute to local development? To explore in what ways rural social enterprises may (or may not) counteract processes of peripheralisation this study relies on a critical realist ethnography (with participant observation, in-depth interviews and documentary analysis) and on a normative approach of local development, integrating economic, social, and environmental aspects too. ECONOMIC CONSIDERATIONS In line with the relational approach to individual autonomy (Mackenzie 2014), a normative assumption of social enterprise scholars is that even if social enterprises receive state funding or money from private foundations or churches, they should be able to preserve their organisational autonomy. However, it should be pointed out that existing institutional contexts influence the political and organisational independence of social and solidarity economy (SSE) initiatives. Even if the reunification of Germany resulted in the assimilation of many East German institutions into West German ones, compared to Hungary, East Germany got integrated into a country with a thick institutional system for welfare provision and in which state-civil society relationships are rather characterised by partnership than state control. The current Hungarian government shows authoritarian tendencies, when it limits funding sources for civilian-based initiatives. Such a context, leads to municipality-based and faith-based social enterprises to blossom over civilian-based ones. These organisations are embedded in centralised structures and they often envision development through patronising means and thus reproduce the marginality of the socially excluded (particularly Roma) within the local society. Beyond monetary resources, non-monetary resources, such as volunteers or strong communities with reciprocal behaviour are considered to be potential resources for social enterprises. However, this research showed that with intensifying peripheralisation (eg. the selective out-migration of better-off social strata) SSE initiatives can decreasingly rely on non-monetary resources locally. Even if capitalist integration of CEE influenced negatively village communities, the reciprocal structures still existed in a village undergoing a higher (but not advanced) level of peripheralisation (H3) when the Ministers moved there and started their faith-based social enterprise together with the locals. In contrast, when the colleagues of the Equality Foundation started their civilian-based social enterprise in a village undergoing advanced peripheralisation, structures of reciprocal relations no longer existed there (H2). People in this village had time, but had been experiencing socio-spatial marginalisation (educational and territorial segregation, lack of jobs locally, limited access to public transport and car) for such a long time that they did not have the actual capacity to initiate local development without assistance coming from outside the village. SOCIAL CONSIDERATIONS The potential of participative decision-making is recognised by social enterprise researchers as a vehicle to empower marginalised people. From the four case studies only two initiatives (H2, G1) aim explicitly to achieve participative decision-making. Within the two other projects decisions are made through representatives of the community. In the case of the municipality-based social enterprise (H1), dominantly one representative, the Mayor has the power to make decisions, while in the case of the faith-based social enterprise (H3) the community representative, the 8 Presbyters and the Minister (who are all male) have the institutionalised right to make decisions for the community. The two civilian-based social enterprises (G1 and H2) are embedded in differently peripheralised contexts. In the case of advanced peripheralisation (H2) help comes outside of the village, from a development organisation. Building up the capacities of the local stakeholders for participative decision-making is a long-term strategy for the Foundation, which explicitly focuses on the empowerment of Roma and women. In case of moderate peripheralisation (G1) local agents, amongst whom counter-cultural migrants are overrepresented, have a capacity to start their SSE initiatives without help coming from a development organisation. Even if inhabitants of areas undergoing advanced peripheralisation have an agency, they need professional assistance from outside. It is, however, of particular importance that the development organisation follows the philosophy of democratic solidarity and has a capability-based approach. Without such assistance it would be naïve to expect agents of severely peripheralised areas to set up and run SSE initiatives themselves. At the same time it would be also wrong to think that without local knowledge (for example the knowledge of surviving in conditions of deep poverty and lived experiences of institutional racism) “developers” could reach long lasting results. Among the four case studies, the empowerment capacity was the highest in the civilian-based social enterprise (belonging to the Equality Foundation). This was the only initiative that acknowledged the ethnicised (and gendered) structural oppression of Roma (women). In addition to aiming to increase the individual autonomy of their stakeholders (through supporting adult education or providing advices on how to deal with domestic abuse), the organisation also aims to develop the collective autonomy of the inhabitants of the village through their community development project. Without identifying themselves as a Roma feminist organisation, the Equality Foundation has consciously focused on women as partners of local development. The reasoning behind their decision is connected to the role women play in the social reproduction of their households. ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS There are life situations, when social needs get prioritised over environmental considerations. Deep poverty is one of those life situations. For example, the daily survival under conditions of housing poverty and extreme cold weather overwrites long-term strategies, such as environmentalism. Due to a lower purchasing power, poorer households have lower levels of consumption too. This, however, does not mean that underprivileged people would not aim to consume more. On the contrary, as our society is dominated by the ideology of capitalist consumerism, to counteract social exclusion consumerism is seen as a strategy towards social integration for people living in deep poverty. The comparison between a Hungarian village undergoing advanced peripheralisation (H2) and a German village undergoing moderate peripheralisation (G1) shows that only people with a higher level of individual autonomy are capable of “decolonizing their imaginary” (Latouche 2011), namely of questioning capitalist consumerism and develop ethical consumption practices.:Contents List of Abbreviations 11 Figures / Maps / Images 13 Tables 15 1 Introduction 17 1.1 AIMS AND MOTIVATION 17 1.2 THE RELEVANCE OF THE RESEARCH 20 1.3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 21 2 Theorising peripheralisation and local development 23 2.1 PERIPHERALISATION, A MULTI-DIMENSIONAL, SELF-REINFORCING PROCESS 23 2.1.1 Dimensions of peripheralisation 23 2.1.2 Advanced peripheralisation 28 2.2 SOCIAL AND SOLIDARITY ECONOMY AND LOCAL DEVELOPMENT 29 2.2.1 Economic dimension 30 2.2.2 Social dimension: autonomy and empowerment 31 2.2.3 Environmental dimension 36 2.3 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS 38 3 Contexts: social and solidarity economy in the context of peripheralisation 41 3.1 PERIPHERALISATION 41 3.1.1 Post-socialist transformation, a historical overview of periheralisation 41 3.1.2 Multi-dimensional peripheralisation in East Germany and Hungary 44 3.1.3 The relational aspect of peripheralisation 48 3.1.4 Advanced peripheralisation, a Hungarian (semi-peripheral) reality 50 3.2 SOCIAL AND SOLIDARITY ECONOMY IN CEE 51 3.2.1 Informal social and solidarity economy 52 3.2.2 Institutionalised social and solidarity economy 54 4 Methodology 59 4.1 TOWARDS A CRITICAL REALIST ETHNOGRAPHY 59 4.1.1 The scope of postmodern reflexive ethnography 60 4.1.2 Critical realism 61 4.1.3 Critical realist ethnography 62 4.2 CASE SELECTION AND COMPARATIVE PROCEEDING 63 Stage 1: Selecting areas undergoing peripheralisation 63 Stage 2: Identifying rural social enterprises 66 4.3 DATA COLLECTION 68 4.3.1 Interviews 69 4.3.2 Participant observation 72 4.3.3 Documents 76 4.4 POTENTIAL AND LIMITATIONS OF THE METHODOLOGY 77 4.4.1 Positivist critiques of the ethnographic approach 77 4.4.2 Anti-realist and postmodern critiques of ethnography 78 4.4.3 Critical realism and political engagement 79 4.4.4 Data analysis and reflections on the field experiences 81 5 Peripheralisation and the local scale 83 5.1 PERIPHERALISATION: THE LOCALITY AND THE CASE STUDY PROFILES 83 5.2 PERCEPTIONS AND RESPONSES TO PERIPHERIALITY IN DIFFERENT CONTEXTS 91 5.2.1 Surviving advanced peripheralisation 91 5.2.2 Uneven access to education 92 5.2.3 Counter-cultural migration 93 5.3 THE MAIN CHALLENGES AND MISSION OF THE CASE STUDY SOCIAL ENTERPRISES 95 6 The interplay between autonomy and local resource-mix strategies 99 6.1 ORGANISATIONAL AUTONOMY AND ACCESS TO FUNDING 99 6.2 MARKET-BASED RESOURCES: EARNED INCOME 102 6.3 NON-MARKET RESOURCES: GRANTS AND SUBSIDIES 106 6.3.1 International governmental funding 106 6.3.2 National governmental funding 114 6.3.3 Non-governmental funding 119 6.4 NON-MONETARY RESOURCES: THE CAPACITIES OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY 120 7 Empowerment capacity of the case study initiatives 123 7.1 DECISION-MAKING STRUCTURES 123 7.1.1 Representative decision-making structures 124 7.1.2 Participative decision-making structures 127 7.2 EMPOWERMENT OF ROMA (WOMEN) 131 7.2.1 The empowerment capacity of rural social enterprises: a perspective of the Roma 132 7.2.2 A gendered aspect: the empowerment of Roma women 137 8 Environmental considerations 143 8.1 ENVIRONMENTAL CONSCIOUSNESS ON THE LOCAL LEVEL 143 8.2 ENVIRONMENTAL CONSCIOUSNESS ON THE ORGANISATIONAL LEVEL 145 9 Summary and conclusions 149 9.1 LIMITATIONS AND POTENTIALS OF THE METHODOLOGY 149 9.2 THEORETICAL IMPLICATIONS: THE CAPACITY OF SOCIAL AND SOLIDARITY ECONOMY IN COUNTERACTING PERIPHERALISATION 150 9.2.1 Economic considerations: autonomy and local resource-mix strategies 150 9.2.2 Social considerations: Autonomy and Empowerment 153 9.2.3 Environmental considerations: environmental consciousness and environmental impact 156 9.3 POLICY IMPLICATIONS FOR LOCAL DEVELOPMENT AND SOCIAL ECONOMY POLICIES 156 10 References 159 10.1 GENERAL WORKS 159 10.2 DATABASES, RELATED MATERIALS 172 10.3 MEDIA SOURCES 172 10.4 WEBPAGES 173 10.5 LEGAL REFERENCES 174 Annex 1 Expert sampling sheet (hu) 175 Annex 2 Information sheet (hu) 177 Annex 3 Information sheet (de) 179 Annex 4 Consent form (hu) 181 Annex 5 Consent form (de) 183 Annex 6 Expert interviews 185 Annex 7 Case study interviews 187 Annex 8 Participant observation 189 Annex 9 Anonymised data sources 193