Introduction

This chapter describes the economic and social dynamics of farming, forestry, fishing and other kinds of self-employment and small-scale enterprise in the context of changing circumstances of the late 1990s. It analyses the efforts of individuals, private- and public-sector agencies and national- and supra-national institutions to maintain and develop economic opportunities for the people who live in these regions. The state and its agencies seek to foster regional balance, social equity and economic growth through a more-or-less ad hoc assemblage of piecemeal measures rather than through a planned, comprehensive strategy. A common form is the local, grass-roots development association, supported by funds made available under various regional or sectoral initiatives by national or supra-national institutions, such as the European Union. In Scotland, Mark Shucksmith reports on the effects the European Union's 1992 Common Agricultural Policy reforms on crofting in the Isle of Skye in the Hebrides. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.