ABSTRACT
Rural areas have changed dramatically in recent decades, although the pace and range of these changes have intensified due to the financial crisis of 2007–2008. Rural regions and localities faced economic constraints and major challenges in relation to the external shocks caused by the globalised financial market economy. In this context, public policies and practices of rural development emerged in response to the rapidly changing economic environment. The financial crisis of 2007–2008 offers an example of the way(s) global processes (re)shape existent uneven geographies of rural development. Within the EU, this reshaping of uneven rural development follows diverse paths connected to national and/or regional vulnerabilities. Rural regions and localities bear the cost of national austerity policies, which are designed to restrict public funding. Many peripheral rural places have crafted innovative or sustainable rural practices, while certain dynamic rural places have been transformed into hyper-productive or resilient spaces. This chapter explores the diverse impacts of global financial crisis on rural places and looks more closely on how the latter have responded and/or adapted in the face of the rapidly changing socio-economic environment deeply affected by the hegemony of neoliberal policies.
