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

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.