ABSTRACT
For several years now, approaches to rural development have distanced themselves from the more traditional approach, which tended to identify the countryside with agriculture, and have focused more on an analysis of the prevailing sector – specific relations. The first shift is due to the decreasing importance of agriculture –both in terms of employment and production – in European economies. Within the context of these changes, Southern European rural areas seem to encounter the greatest challenges. Changes, however, tend to obscure continuities and stability across time and undermine processes that tend to shape and reshape diachronic constant patterns. In some countries, these changes were noted as early as the 1960s, while in others countries, such transformations were extensively realized only in the 1980s and 1990s. Of greater interest is the need to examine the environmental implications of the productivist model supported by the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). This introduction also presents an Overview of the chapters in the book.
