ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an analysis of the factors influencing leadership and local power in rural Britain. It provides some basic contextual information on rural Britain, considering socio-demographic changes and economic developments. Consolidating this background overview, the chapter provides a brief overview of the principal administrative structures governing the management of rural areas at national, regional and local levels. It provides a description of recent European Union (EU) and national policy initiatives for rural economic and social development. The chapter highlights the discursive context in which rural development policy is made and suggests the role of these selective discourses in shaping new governance practices within rural Britain. It examines the roles of different groups of actors within the rural development process. The chapter concludes that issues of empowerment, and the complex political, social and cultural issues contained therein, appear to be coming ever more significant within the development agenda of rural Britain.
