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4 Developing Rural Regions: Europe in the World

  • Corinna R. Unger
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Living with the Land
This chapter is in the book Living with the Land

Abstract

This chapter examines how, in the twentieth century, European observers thought about rural regions that, in their view, needed to be “developed,” and how they translated their ideas into practices in the form of improvement and modernization schemes. The chapter pays specific attention to how perceptions of rural “backwardness” on the European continent and in the European colonies were connected and influenced each other. It focuses on those individuals who carried out the studies on which notions of rural backwardness and rural development rested and who were in charge of planning developmental interventions: social scientists, colonial and postcolonial administrators, and development experts and practitioners.

Abstract

This chapter examines how, in the twentieth century, European observers thought about rural regions that, in their view, needed to be “developed,” and how they translated their ideas into practices in the form of improvement and modernization schemes. The chapter pays specific attention to how perceptions of rural “backwardness” on the European continent and in the European colonies were connected and influenced each other. It focuses on those individuals who carried out the studies on which notions of rural backwardness and rural development rested and who were in charge of planning developmental interventions: social scientists, colonial and postcolonial administrators, and development experts and practitioners.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Table of Contents V
  3. On the “Contemporary European History” Handbook Series VII
  4. 1 Living with the Land: Introduction 1
  5. I Working the Land
  6. 2 Opening Up the Land: Infrastructures in Rural Europe 15
  7. 3 Reclaiming the Land: The Drainage Paradigm and the Making of Twentieth-Century Rural Europe 37
  8. 4 Developing Rural Regions: Europe in the World 61
  9. II Managing Land and Labor
  10. 5 Mediating Modernity: The Social History of Rural Domestic Education in Northwestern Europe 83
  11. 6 Pooling Resources in the European Countryside: Cooperative Models, Rural Capitalism, and Beyond 109
  12. 7 Farming under Occupation: Rural Actors and the Social Dynamics of Occupation during World War II 133
  13. 8 Transforming Agriculture and Rurality: The Common Agricultural Policy, Actors, National Adaptation and Responses to Policy Challenges 155
  14. III Knowing the Land
  15. 9 Registering Land and Forests: European Institutions and Practices of Landownership 177
  16. 10 Experimenting with Scientific Management: New Approaches to Agricultural Labor in the Twentieth Century 205
  17. 11 Developing Agriculture, Modernizing Rural Society: Transnational Dimensions of Agricultural Expertise 227
  18. IV Organizing Life on the Land
  19. 12 Representing Peasants and Farmers: Parties, Movements, and Leaders Across Europe 251
  20. 13 Governing the Village: Rural Mayors and the Transformations of Self-Government in Europe 281
  21. 14 Managing Culture in the European Countryside: The Modern Roots of Rural Traditions 301
  22. 15 Challenging Socialist Village Structures: Youth in Rural Regions since 1945 325
  23. List of Contributors 345
  24. Index 349
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110678628-005

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Table of Contents V
  3. On the “Contemporary European History” Handbook Series VII
  4. 1 Living with the Land: Introduction 1
  5. I Working the Land
  6. 2 Opening Up the Land: Infrastructures in Rural Europe 15
  7. 3 Reclaiming the Land: The Drainage Paradigm and the Making of Twentieth-Century Rural Europe 37
  8. 4 Developing Rural Regions: Europe in the World 61
  9. II Managing Land and Labor
  10. 5 Mediating Modernity: The Social History of Rural Domestic Education in Northwestern Europe 83
  11. 6 Pooling Resources in the European Countryside: Cooperative Models, Rural Capitalism, and Beyond 109
  12. 7 Farming under Occupation: Rural Actors and the Social Dynamics of Occupation during World War II 133
  13. 8 Transforming Agriculture and Rurality: The Common Agricultural Policy, Actors, National Adaptation and Responses to Policy Challenges 155
  14. III Knowing the Land
  15. 9 Registering Land and Forests: European Institutions and Practices of Landownership 177
  16. 10 Experimenting with Scientific Management: New Approaches to Agricultural Labor in the Twentieth Century 205
  17. 11 Developing Agriculture, Modernizing Rural Society: Transnational Dimensions of Agricultural Expertise 227
  18. IV Organizing Life on the Land
  19. 12 Representing Peasants and Farmers: Parties, Movements, and Leaders Across Europe 251
  20. 13 Governing the Village: Rural Mayors and the Transformations of Self-Government in Europe 281
  21. 14 Managing Culture in the European Countryside: The Modern Roots of Rural Traditions 301
  22. 15 Challenging Socialist Village Structures: Youth in Rural Regions since 1945 325
  23. List of Contributors 345
  24. Index 349
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