ABSTRACT
The context of increased globalisation in ‘late-modern society’ has served to reinforce many concerns about democratic decision-making processes and the shifting balance of power away from the local level. Consequently, a feature of contemporary life in advanced capitalist societies is the re-emergence of ‘community’ as both a concept and actor on the development scene (Curtin 1996). As Giddens (1999) has suggested in relation to the emergence of new institutional structures and organisations: “globalisation underlies the recovery of local community power, the return of local cultural identity … across the world. The impulse towards decentralisation is part and parcel of globalising processes”. 2 This increased interest in local community power forms the centrepiece of the analysis presented here. More specifically, it seeks to identify the processes and practices arising out of local rural communities’ engagement with the state in new institutional arrangements and how the pursuit of a common development agenda has impacted upon young people. This complex interface between civil society and the state is becoming increasingly attractive to policy-makers throughout the Member States as a means to addressing the most pressing needs of its citizens, particularly in relation to unemployment, service provision and other welfare 128concerns. This new institutional approach towards the development process, referred to as a ‘partnership’ approach, is the context within which the analysis is undertaken. While partnership arrangements exist throughout Europe and the US (see OECD 2000b), the nature and form of partnership co-operation differs according to the context of governance in the various countries. In Austria, for example, partnerships (such as the territorial employment pacts) help to coordinate efforts between regional government and other regional organisations, such as the tripartite labour market board (AMS), while in Finland, strong local government has meant that municipalities have taken a lead role in establishing partnership arrangements. This chapter focuses on two countries of the PaYPiRD project – Ireland and Scotland – because of the key role played by the community and voluntary sector in partnerships in these countries. The partnership model offers an interesting framework within which we can observe the role of local rural communities and the voluntary sector as actors or ‘stakeholders’ in the development process. Case studies from the two countries are presented with the purpose of highlighting the commonalities in their approach towards rural youth inclusion. It endeavours to distil from the evidence some examples of good practice out of which we can comment on the role of local communities and the voluntary sector as ‘partners in development’.
