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What ’ s Wrong With Rural Policy and How Might We Fix It?. David Freshwater University of Kentucky CRRF/NRRN/NRE joint conference Gatineau, Quebec October 26,2006. Laboratories of Democracy. David Osborne Advocated devolution - 50 states conducting policy experiments
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What’s Wrong With Rural Policy and How Might We Fix It? David Freshwater University of Kentucky CRRF/NRRN/NRE joint conference Gatineau, Quebec October 26,2006
Laboratories of Democracy • David Osborne • Advocated devolution - 50 states conducting policy experiments • With 50 experiments surely some will be successful and can be emulated • Missing idea • In laboratory failed experiments provide information • Why did we fail?
outline • Context • Six Reasons for failure • Policy conundrums • Policy progress • Where do we go now?
context • Declining role of rural • Demography as destiny • Open economy - new idea or old news • Macro-policy swamps rural policy • Paradox of major NGO engagement - rural development for whom?
Six reasons for policy failure • Path dependency • Myopia • Political compromise • Defective knowledge • Desire for universality • Overestimation of capacity
Confounding concepts • Role of agriculture • Manufacturing is passé • Regional or rural • Labor force up-skilling or “education pays” • Specialization vs. diversification • Balancing subsidiarity and failure
The way forward - locally based development • Models we know work • Community Futures • LEADER • Enterprise Communities • Why do we ignore models that work • 6 reasons • Resolved local impediments but not national • What will cause us to change?
a new perspective • OECD approach to improving rural policy • Reflects information from a large number of member countries • Experience based
Rural spatial context • Regional cities • Polycentric city with integrated rural space • Urban-rural fringe issues • Where most rural people live • Remote rural • Market town - symbiosis • Nodal Communities - independent but dependent
Provincial and State government focus • Principle example of path dependency - rely primarily on the national government for rural policy • National governments deal with sectors • Provincial/State governments deal with people and communities • Local government is a creature of provincial/state government • Local public services are driven by provincial and state decisions
Where do we go now? • Learn from our mistakes • Have a set of models, but need to refine them and fully implement them • Recognize that location is important and that rural is more than remote • Accept that different rural interests have their own values - “big tent” approach • Guard against the 6 causes of policy failure • “Sell rural” to urban Canada and America