ABSTRACT
In examining the sustainability of unsustainable conditions it is necessary to explore three social/political/scientific/economic dynamics which are currently combining and competing in shaping European rural space. It is a rural development discourse, which to put it mildly, faces a long-term crisis of legitimacy; not necessarily amongst the rural populations of Europe alone, but also amongst the urban consumption classes. The CAP in Europe, while continuing to represent the main plank of agro-food policy, holds increasing contradictions. Controlling the quality conventions becomes a key factor in the maintenance of the corporate-led system which now continues to innovate through rational means to provide sanitised products of low risk but of higher value. Despite the salience of the agro-industrial development path, the past decade has also witnessed the growth of a new 'post-productivist' dynamic which has challenged the relevance of industrialized agricultural production in many rural areas of Europe.
