Crisis in rural America is by now an all too familiar complaint, yet the problems presented by changing demographics, economic decline, and increasing poverty persist. They have not vanished with a new administration. However, with a new farm bill in the offing, now is the time for a fresh initiative to assess the difficulties facing nonurban America and to offer positive solutions. Rural Policies for the 1990s, written by some of the foremost experts on rural America, focuses on policy-relevant research. Within a carefully crafted framework, the contributors present stimulating discussions on resolving problems and improving the situation in rural areas. Looking at the crucial issues of employment, demographics, environment, technology, and the global impacts of national and international policies, they offer a broad analysis that is neither regionally based nor biased. The result is not an advocacy book, but one that effectively enhances our understanding of the problems facing rural America and presents concrete proposals for revitalizing it.

The book you are about to read is constituted by 2 years ofresearch in Universidade de Coimbra and Comissao de Coordenacao eDesenvolvimento Regional do Centro(CCDRC) by the great help and supportof Prof. Dr.Ana Maria Pereira Abrunhosa. The book analyzes the rural development strategy changes of theEU between 1991 and 2013 by considering LEADER programs. LEADER is a European Community Initiative for rural development whichhas been implemented in the rural areas at the local level in the leastdeveloped regions. The main concept of LEADER is to support the development strategiesthat are decided and implemented by local actors to local levels. Aimof the LEADER initiative is to encourage the implementation ofintegrated, high quality and original strategies for sustainabledevelopment. In this book we will be able to see how many different typesof strategies were implemented in the Member States of the EuropeanUnion."

Combining revised presentations to the 1992 Annual Conference of the Irish Planning Institution and commissioned papers, 16 studies report on sectarian, social, and policy issues related to rural development in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The topics include agriculture, forestry, tourism, housing, health care, schools, government and community participation in making policy, and ongoing programs. No index. Acidic paper. Distributed in the US by Ashgate. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR