(27 October 2014) – CERCEC (Centre d’études des mondes russe, caucasien et centre-européen) has recently published “Transfert et apprentissage du modèle LEADER en Europe centrale” (Transfer and learning of the LEADER model in Central Europe), which presents the results of a study on the implementation of the LEADER programme in Hungary, the Czech Republic and the new German Länder.
Successfully implemented by the “older” Member States of the European Union, the LEADER (Links between actions for the development of the rural economy) local development model was proposed to the new Member States in Central Europe after accession.
The mechanisms and practicalities of the transfer, and the effects on the political systems of the new Member States, are at the heart of this publication, written by Marie-Claude Morel, Pascal Chevalier and William Lacquement, researchers at CNRS, the French national scientific research institute.
The publication is based on the results of a multidisciplinary and comparative research study, including field surveys in which the implementation of the LEADER model was studied in detail.
It helps to improve our understanding of how social actors have appropriated the LEADER principles and have mobilized their resources to build original development strategies. It also analyses the effects of the transfer of this European public policy.