Rural Economic Developments and Social Movements

Focusing on the demands of the new innovative, sustainable and inclusive rural development paradigm, the monograph raises the discussion regarding new approaches and success factors that are vital in current rural socio-economic development and policy transformations. The bottom-up policymaking, self-organization, creative use of knowledge in rural areas, and many other rural innovations are aligned in this book with new social movements’ theories, which help disclose, explore and explain the rural development paradigm shift. Rural development forces of the 21st century center on the agents of change - rural population, and, surprisingly - urban population(!), and the political debate concerning EU Common Agricultural Policy and European Green Deal, illustrated with multiple case studies. This book will be of interest to a broad audience of readers, keen on scientific, political, and practical issues of innovations in rural areas and their future development pathways. The monograph is authored by a team of scholars from the Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences, Institute of Economics and Rural Development, Department of Rural Development. Dr. Rita Vilke is a senior researcher and her main research interests are social responsibility in economically viable and sustainable regional and rural development, modern business models. Dr. Dalia Vidickiene is a principal researcher and her main interest centers on rural development and regional innovation policy, strategic management and business models, paradigm innovations. Dr. Živile Gedminaite-Raudone is a senior researcher and her main research focus is sustainable regional and rural development, circular economy, innovation ecosystems. Dr. Vitalija Simonaityte is a researcher and her recent research focus is sustainable regional and rural development policy, interest groups, local and regional actors. Erika Ribašauskiene is a researcher and her research focus is sustainable regional and rural development practices, local and regional stakeholders, rural crafts, and business models.