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This thesis examines economic restructuring and changing governmental regulation in the Central Wheatbelt of Western Australia. It argues that, for much of this century, Australian governments were committed to the development and maintenance of export orientated agriculture and stable rural communities. While the agricultural industry, and the rural society that it supported, were periodically affected by economic downturns, wars, and technological changes, the full socio-economic impacts were often tempered by interventionist agricultural, social and regional development government policies. Since the early 1970s, however, the Central Wheatbelt, and rural Australia more generally, have experienced profound economic, social and political changes. During this period, the rapid transformation of the global economy has contributed to a series of problems in the Australian economy, such as low levels of economic growth, rising interest rates, and increasing unemployment. In the case of agriculture, the upheaval in the global economy contributed to world surpluses of agricultural commodities, declining returns for food and fibre production, and the rising cost of farm inputs.Since the early 1980s, the response of Federal and State governments to the turmoil in the Australian economy has been to argue that the only workable solution to globalisation was the adoption of policies based on the principles of economic rationalism. However, this thesis argues that, in the Central Wheatbelt, the combination of global restructuring and policies based on economic rationalism have contributed to: the declining viability of family farming; farm amalgamation; labour force adjustments; the contraction of local economies; depopulation; public service rationalisation and withdrawal; and uneven economic and social development. It is contended that policies based on the principles of ++ / economic rationalism have increased levels of uncertainty and socio-economic disadvantage in a region already adversely affected by the economic pressures associated with restructuring. The thesis concludes by arguing that a more integrated policy framework, based to a greater extent on the principles of social equity, is critical to ensuring the social and economic welfare of rural people.

Yes / Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the entrepreneurial attitudes of upcountry vegetable farmers in Sri Lanka with respect to the characteristics of innovation, opportunity seeking and risk taking and considers their implications for rural development efforts. Design/methodology/approach – The study was carried out in the hilly areas of the Badulla district in the Uva Province of Sri Lanka. Primary data were collected through a survey using a researcher-administered questionnaire as the data collection instrument and the individual farmer as the unit of analysis. Findings – Most vegetable farmers in the upcountry areas were found to be attitudinally entrepreneurial. Entrepreneurial attitudes were determined more by educational background and farming experience than age, gender, extent of farmland, type of farming and ownership of farmland. Farming experience related positively with innovation, opportunity seeking and risk taking, but farmers’ educational background showed no significant association with innovation. Research limitations/implications – It is suggested that farmer-owned companies with appropriate institutional arrangements could reduce transaction costs for buyers, and introduce accessible rural finance schemes to enhance provision of assets and technology. Such a rural setting would gain from initiatives on marketing alternatives and entrepreneurial skill development. Future research could benefit from analysis of the financial and social performance and entrepreneurial skills of vegetable farmers. Originality/value – The entrepreneurial attitude of farmers is an under-researched area of study particularly in the Sri Lanka context. Rural development initiatives could target entrepreneurial farmers based on these criteria to achieve maximum production impact. However care needs to be taken to consider the potential distributive impact of such targeting on farmers regarded as non-entrepreneurial. / This publication would not have been possible without the funding provided by the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) under its academic fellowship programme. Assistance provided by Ellie Fixter (ACU, London) and Max Wellingham (British Council, Manchester) is sincerely appreciated.

This study evaluates, by means of face to face interviews and a postal survey, aspects of the Market Towns Initiative (MTI), the Beacon Towns Programme (BTP), and related programmes of community-led work, the majority of which arose from the British Government’s Rural White Paper of 2000. Particular emphasis is placed on: participants’ experiences, achievements and opinions about the programmes; their understanding of rural poverty; the extent to which they thought that the programmes should have had poverty alleviation as an aim, and to which they believed that the programmes had helped to identify and address rural poverty. A review of the literature relating to rural policy reveals that political interest (and, therefore, policymakers’ interest) in the functions of England’s country – “market” - towns, and their place in the settlement hierarchy, has waxed and waned since the Second World War. During this period the nature of government, in particular the balance between the various tiers, has tilted in favour of central government. Consequently, the powers available to County and District/Borough Councils, if not Town/Parish Councils, have reduced. Central government has increasingly looked to partnerships formed from public, voluntary, and private sector organizations to implement policy. It is governance, therefore, rather than government, that has grown in importance in recent years. The MTI/BT programmes were both designed for implementation by broad-based partnerships of professionals and volunteers. The literature also reveals that the post-war period has seen research into poverty become increasingly nuanced and sophisticated, with definitions moving away from the relatively simple to understand (eg lack of money) to more complicated notions of disadvantage, deprivation, and social exclusion. The factors that affect rural poverty have, since the 1970s, been remarkably constant (eg access to services, affordable housing, low income self-employment). The problems of rural poverty have not been solved. It is argued, based on the results of the data acquired from this research, that community-led development programmes such as the MTI/BTP, have the potential to inform the development of policy and practice relating to community-led development and poverty alleviation, to add to the body of knowledge about rural poverty, and to improve the overall understanding of the functions of England’s small towns. Despite the potential of partnerships to effect change, the important role of local authorities as democratically accountable organizations, and contributors to partnerships’ success and effectiveness, is noted.

I många tidningsartiklar går det att läsa om att Norge har en mer levande landsbygd än Sverige, men vad är det egentligen som skiljer sig åt mellan länderna? I den här uppsatsen har Sverige och Norges landsbygdspolitik studerats och därefter har en fallstudie på en kommun i respektive land har utförts. De kommuner som har undersökts är Ragunda kommun i Sverige och Röros kommun i Norge. Dessa har valts utifrån vissa likheter som lokalisering, befolkningsmängd och att båda kommunerna har vattenkraft. Kommunerna har studerats utifrån faktorerna finansiering, service och näringsliv. Det finns vissa skillnader gällande landsbygdspolitiken i länderna, hur naturresurser beskattas, skillnader i arbetsgivaravgifter och den allmänna synen på landsbygden skiljer sig åt mellan länderna. Trots det är det inte särskilt stor skillnad gällande finansiering, service och näringsliv för just dessa kommuner. / Many newspaper articles discuss how Norway has a more vibrant rural area than Sweden, but what are the actual differences between the two countries? This essay examines the rural policies of Sweden and Norway, followed by a case study of one municipality in each country. The municipalities under investigation are Ragunda Municipality in Sweden and Røros Municipality in Norway. These municipalities were chosen based on certain similarities such as location, population size, and both having hydropower resources. The study focuses on the factors of funding, services, and business environment within the municipalities.There are some differences in rural policies between the countries, including how natural resources are taxed, variations in employer contributions, and disparities in the general perception of rural areas. However, there is not a significant difference in terms of funding, services, and business environment for the municipalities.

This study is an enquiry into the processes shaping rural livelihoods in peripheral areas. The study is situated in the field of livelihood research and departs in the persistent crisis within African smallholder agriculture and in rural policy debates during the postindependence era. The research takes a critical stance to the way that people-centred and actor-oriented approaches have dominated livelihood research, thereby over-shadowing structural and macro-oriented features. The aim of this study is to, through a historical perspective on rural livelihoods and policy regimes, uncover the political and economic processes, with their discursive foundations, that shape contemporary rural livelihoods in peripheral areas. The analytical framework emphasises four key factors: ideas of development and modernity; the terms of incorporation into the global economy; rural policy regimes; smallholders’ ways of making a living. Inspiration is gained from critical political geography, world-systems analysis and different perspectives on rural livelihoods and development. The empirical study is based on fieldwork in Chipata District in Eastern Zambia, investigations at the National Archives of Zambia, the British National Archives and library research. The findings are presented in three parts. The first part looks into contemporary policies and the situation among smallholders in Chipata District. The second part examines the history of the area up to independence in 1964. The third part examines the post-independence period which links colonial experience to the contemporary situation. The findings suggest that smallholders’ livelihoods are shaped by long-term politicaleconomic- discursive processes, rooted in the terms of the study area’s integration into the world-economy in the colonial period. Colonial policies peripheralised the area through tax, labour, and market policies and the creation of native reserves, all of which have led to contemporary problems of food insecurity, soil depletion and a marginal role in agricultural markets. Since the inception of colonial rule, semi-proletarianisation has been a dominant process in the area. Current diversified livelihoods are more a contemporary expression of this semi-proletarianisation than a consequence of postcolonial policies. The households in the study area show preference for a farming way of life. However, the development goal of modernity has since long led to an ‘othering’ of smallholders, labelling them backwards and resistant to change. In the early twenty-first century this ‘othering’ has been played out through a development programme aimed at changing attitudes and mindsets among the farmers in line with individualistic and entrepreneurial behaviour. The ‘othering’ discourses of contemporary and colonial policymakers display striking similarities in this case.