PRESENTATION AND OBJECTIVES OF THE CONGRESS

Rural development is one of the main axes of welfare and growth in Andalusia, Spain and the European Union. It is also a relevant area for development strategies and the fight against poverty in developing countries. Its analysis and the instruments that develop it appeal to issues such as the effectiveness of public policies, the multilevel articulation of policies, subsidiarity in the distribution of competencies between state administrations to act in the rural world or the protagonism of the actors of the territory.

In Europe, rural development has been marked by the policies of the European Union in the rural world. The European territorial rural development approach and it LEADER program received a major boost with the reforms of the common agricultural policy since the end of the 1980s and the adoption of the rural paradigm. Anchoring population in rural territories has become a strategic objective in Europe that has become particularly relevant to the debate on the territorial imbalances of Spanish society, the empty Spain.

The European model of territorial rural development that has marked the policies and interventions of Spain and Andalusia is now at a crossroads regarding its future. The perceived absence of transformations after several decades of economic investment and political commitment conditions its future and encourages a visibly lower political commitment in all political spheres, from Brussels to Seville. It is important to take stock of what Rural Development Programs and groups have left in Andalusia and the rest of Spain. The debate between ends and means, between objectives and instruments, is especially relevant in the field of Rural Development.

It is also the case in developing countries and in international cooperation policies, where cooperation policies and programs have been designed by governments and international organizations.  The conceptual and methodological debate has been intense over the last few decades and involves diverse actors and academic disciplines.

In an environment of global cycle change, rural development is also facing the need to review its approaches and instruments in order, on the one hand, to adapt them to the new reality and paradigms emerging after the great recession and the pandemic. And, on the other hand, to respond to skepticism about the effectiveness of rural development in meeting the challenges posed to it wherever it has been applied in the past decades.

The Andalusian Academy of Regional Science and Loyola Andalucía University and its Institute of Development present this congress with the aim of reviewing the conceptualization of rural development and the design and operation of its instruments in the light of the challenges of the 21st century. The congress will promote the evaluation of the relevance of the rural approach and the dynamics of territorial rural development in development strategies and in public policies built around this topic.

The Congress also aims to provide a comparative analysis of rural development from the perspective of various regions of the world in very different development environments. To this end, it will focus on the debates on rural development in the European Union (with special attention to Spain and Andalusia), in Latin America (with emphasis on Central America) and in South Asia (with special interest in the case of India).

The role of the different political and economic actors in rural development will be another focus of the congress, which will review the role of central and regional governments, international organizations, local governments, business and producers’ organizations and the wide range of civil society present in the territories. The participation of young people, women and the elderly and the benefits they derive from rural development policies have been the subject of debate and will also be present in the working sessions.

Rural development is, by nature, a multidisciplinary field of analysis and policies. The connection between rural territories and some of the main processes and problems of development is intense and will be a priority at the congress. The effects of climate change and policies for the protection of the environment and natural resources are a fundamental element for rural development and rural territories. So are programs and actions aimed at eradicating poverty, promoting sustainable livelihoods and generating inclusive development strategies. The territorial dimension of the promotion of food security is a priority factor in many regions of the world. The problems of the rural world also play an important role in the analysis of the motivations behind international migration and the abandonment of rural environments in several countries and regions of the world.

To bring together and articulate all the above issues and debates, the sessions of ICDR 2023 will be organized around five major thematic axes:

1. Poverty and exclusion in the rural world
2. Growth, agriculture and rural development
3. Food security and rural development
4. The challenge of depopulation and emigration in the rural world
5. Rural development, climate change and natural resources

The congress will be held in face-to-face mode to promote reflection, debate and exchange in a more effective way, although it will also be possible to participate in virtual mode. Congress participants who opt for the virtual mode will be able to present papers and attend the main presentations and papers in the parallel sessions.

The choice between in-person or virtual mode will be made at the time of registration for the congress.