Research and Co-operation Centre FO-RUM

LAGging behind or LEADER in Local Democracy? An Assessment of LEADER-type Development Projects as a Tool for Democratic Integration in the Contested Countryside (LAG)

Timetable: 2010-2012
Financing: Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Finland
Project coordinators: Senior Lecturer Kjell Andersson, D.Soc.Sc., Swedish School of Social Science, University of Helsinki & Professor Imre Kovách, Hungarian Academy of Sciences

Objectives:
The main objective of the research is to get a clearer picture of Local Action Groups (LAGs) and LEADER action as an organisational device to promote development in the contemporary countryside. These initiatives are situated in an arena that is characterised by complex features of multiple, and sometimes contradictory, interests as well as the absence of clear development paths and visions.

This project will therefore specifically focus on two functions of LEADER: its ability to generate new visions, networks and actions, on the one hand, and its ability to regulate and ease conflicts, on the other. Unlike the bulk of the literature in the field, this project will aim to analyse LAGs and LEADER using classical conceptions and theories of democracy. By doing this, this project avoids treating democracy as a “mere metaphor” that may undermine the insight of generations of theorists of democracy in analysing what are essentially new societal phenomena.

This project will study LAGs and LEADER action in four core countries in the EU: Finland, Hungary, Romania and the United Kingdom. This comparative approach aims to shed light on the relevance of the political-administrative and rural variations in promoting bottom-up innovations such as LAGs and LEADER in the European setting. The countries included in the study are chosen in order to illustrate these variations and how the LAGs and LEADER initiatives are embedded in the societal settings.

Methods:

The key methods used in this project are:

1. In-depth interviews with representatives and participants of LAGs and LEADER projects in four countries in the EU.

2. Systematic assessment of legislative documents and policy statements.