In search of rural development

This chapter questions the concept of rural development. Pointing the difficulty of reaching a definition generally accepted, it also presents the historical evolution of ideas that underlie this concept. From the technical approach centered on agricultural modernization that prevailed in the 1950s to the current interest in agro-ecological issues, different dominant models of rural development are successively presented and discussed: technicist, local networks, empowerment, capabilities, civil society, and environmentalist approaches are considered. From these successive adjustments of rural development models resulted in the early 1990s, the idea that rural areas are engaged in a new development paradigm, responding to expanded logical, particularly in the sectoral dimension, on the place and role of agriculture, the modalities of public intervention, and types of involved stakeholders. Our purpose here highlights the turning point constituted by the recognition of agriculture’s multifunctional nature.