The Contested Countryside

For many parts of the countryside an image of rural harmony is thoroughly anachronistic. "The contested countryside" -- the third in the "Restructuring Rural Areas" series -- focuses on the economic, political and social changes which have combined to introduce strong and often hostile elements of competition into rural development. The authors draw on extensive empirical material to explore the various foci of competition and the contemporary role of the local rural state in the process of rural change. Competition between interest groups in the rural arena takes place around a number of different dimensions, including the very function of the countryside, and is influenced by different sets of interests each of which seeks to define and impose its own version of the countryside on the others. Traditional and established rural interests and organizations may find their authority challenged by local interest groups invigorated by the social and economic changes taking place in rural areas. This process can finally feed through into the political process with often bitter disputes about who has the right to speak for a particular region.
The contested countryside promotes an interdisciplinary approach through which the developing elements of contestation in the rural arena can be properly understood, and will be of interest to students and staff in a wide range of social science disciplines, including agricultural economics, environmental management, planning, land economy, geography and rural sociology, and to all those concerned with the future development of rural areas.