Today the use of the term countryside reflects a dual historical shift due to the decreasing importance of agriculture - both in terms of employment and production - in European economies and the shift toward the environment. An increasing part of rural populations is being drawn into non-agricultural sectors such as tourism, construction, manufacturing, and the conventional and innovative services, thereby granting a more diversified and contemporary role to the countryside. The environmental shift has questioned many of the very fundamental premises governing the relationship between social practices and nature. Agenda 2000 and the ongoing debate concerning the CAP reforms are connected to a large extent with these new realities. This engaging book focuses on the prospects for the development of the Southern European countryside during a transitional period of a major policy paradigm shift. Bringing together case studies from Portugal, Spain, France, Italy and Greece, the book discusses the key issues mentioned above, as well as the restricting factors and prospects of the adjustments required.

Taking into account Agenda 2000 and the ongoing debate concerning the CAP reforms, this engaging book brings together important case studies to focus on the prospects for the development of the Southern European countryside.

This book provides a stimulating account of agricultural policy which goes beyond a narrow concern with the mechanisms and operation of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), and instead constructs a broader canvas, developing an assessment of the relationship between national, international and supranational institutions and actors in the agricultural sector. Among the theses covered by the book are: the different national policy styles across Europe in this sector; the evolution of the CAP; safety and regulation, the environment, and technological developments in food production such as genetic engineering.

This book offers a comprehensive analysis of the Common Agricultural Policy which imposes high costs on taxpayers and consumers yet has proved very difficult to reform. Particular emphasis is placed on new developments affecting the shape of the CAP, including the outcome of the GATT Uruguay Round negotiations, Eastern enlargement, and developments in environmental policy. A distinctive feature of the book is the attention given to situating European agriculture within its global context and in relation to the food processing and agricultural supply industries.

This book argues that the marginal upland regions of southern Europe are facing a growing agrarian crisis. Drawing on an extensive period of original field research in northern Portugal, a theory of crisis is put forward, which draws on recent advances in the fields of geography, rural sociology, and development studies. In an in-depth analysis of the Serra do Alvao, the importance of external political economic factors are highlighted. It is argued that traditional agriculture systems have been undermined, and farmers marginalized, without creating the conditions for restructuring and more efficient production. A strategy for economic growth which prioritizes increases in productivity is rejected, in favour of a more flexible approach to development.