Local Policy Entrepreneurs and Sustainable Development in Rural Areas

• A popular trend in today’s development debate is to highlight arguments favouring local production, local entrepreneurship, or the importance of buying local. But what do we actually mean when we talk about the term “local”. Similar to other popular development terms, the concept “local” seems to be used in a wide variety of meanings and interpretations. Furthermore, the term “local” is also often connected as an important component in the perhaps even more vague argumentations for sustainable development.        The conventional view of development, based on economic growth, promotes expansion in space and compression in time – a global market economy. This dominant technical-economic approach largely use general technological and institutional policies and solutions more suitable for urban large-scale structures. Such structures and policies thereby tend to hamper what often is seen as local development.Initially, the article discusses the term “local” using a geographical time-spatial conceptual approach. With the use of empirical field studies focusing on rural local development in Sweden, the article thereafter apply the approach in an analytical framework to clarify and identify the meaning(s) of the term local, and identify the possibilities and constraints of processes of change in time and space – e.g. local development. In so doing, the time-spatial approach provide a possibility to identify the potential for alternative interwoven applicable local policy instruments and strategies.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Statsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Political Science (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Local development

Sustainability

Policy

Strategy

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