<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>This paper investigates the added value of the territorial governance approach LEADER in the multi-level governance setting of rural and coastal development. Using focus group interviews in five Danish rural and fisheries local action groups (LAGs) from the 2007-2013 programming period, the paper demonstrates that pursuing the LEADER method at the LAG level enhances rural development in the form of leverage, democratisation and bottom-up decision making that none of the other levels in the multi-level governance setup of LEADER would be able to provide. However, some of the method’s seven concepts are not fully used. Maintaining a focus on all of the method’s concepts could allow for even greater rural development.</p></abstract>

This paper investigates the added value of the territorial governance approach LEADER in the multi-level governance setting of rural and coastal development. Using focus group interviews in five Danish rural and fisheries local action groups (LAGs) from the 2007-2013 programming period, the paper demonstrates that pursuing the LEADER method at the LAG level enhances rural development in the form of leverage, democratisation and bottom-up decision making that none of the other levels in the multi-level governance setup of LEADER would be able to provide. However, some of the method’s seven concepts are not fully used. Maintaining a focus on all of the method’s concepts could allow for even greater rural development.

A Territorial Perspective On Eu´S Leader Approach In Denmark: The Added Value Of Community-Led Local Development Of Rural And Coastal Areas In A Multi-Level Governance Settings

Danish Centre for Rural Research, University of Southern Denmark, Niels Bohrs Vej 9, 6700 Esbjerg, Denmark

European Countryside

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

This paper investigates the added value of the territorial governance approach LEADER in the multi-level governance setting of rural and coastal development....

A Territorial Perspective On Eu´S Leader Approach In Denmark: The Added Value Of Community-Led Local Development Of Rural And Coastal Areas In A Multi-Level Governance Settings

Published Online: Dec 30, 2014

Page range: 307 - 326

Received: May 20, 2014

Accepted: Sep 26, 2014

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/euco-2014-0017

© by Annette Aagaard Thuessen

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.