Introduction

Reference to the global aspect of economic, social, political and cultural processes has been very popular in the majority of analyses of the 1990s. The concept of globalization conditions the whole discussion concerning the social and economic restructuring of different localities and/or regions in any part of the globe. Rural space constitutes an arena of the globalization process. Globalization in itself signifies both the process and the end-state of global integration dynamics. The periodization of world economy implies some sort of evolutionism and externality of social change. Agricultural production relations constitute just one set of relations along with other sectors within concrete localities in geographical space. The dynamics of the local can be conceived with respect to the global situation, the socioeconomic integration trajectories and the growing internationalization of industrial and financial capital. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.