This book offers a unique perspective on rural development, by discussing various influential perspectives and making their risks and benefits understandable. The authors do not present a magical formula to solve all issues, or to show the best possible future. Rather, they give students, researchers, community leaders, politicians, concerned citizens and development organizations the conceptual tools to understand how things are organized now, which development path has already been taken, and how things could possibly move in a different direction. Van Assche and Hornidge pay special...