New approaches to economic development in peripheral rural regions

Abstract This paper explores new approaches to economic development in peripheral regions in the context of constraints on public expenditure, declining employment in traditional natural resource based industries, and globalisation of the economy. Three conceptual pairs ‐resource mobility and immobility; tangible and intangible factors; and global‐local interrelations — underpin three ideas about these new approaches, and their impact on differential economic performance observed in otherwise similar localities and regions. A case study is given to illustrate the role played by less mobile cultural, social and environmental assets in these strategies. However, a key feature of the cases is the importance of both local and extra‐local linkages, often at international level, whether this has to do with market or non‐market activity. The conclusions raise questions for research about the root causes of differences in economic performance between rural localities, whether local initiatives will suffice to counter further likely declines in public subventions and natural resource based employment and also about the focus of policy in such regions. Notes This article is derived from a paper originally presented at the Circumpolar Universities Co‐operation Conference held at the University of Aberdeen from 24–27 June 1999. The authors are grateful for helpful comments from Jackie Cornish and Keith Hart on earlier drafts of this paper, and for comments from two anonymous reviewers, but nevertheless accept responsibility for the content. The authors are respectively joint‐Director and Research Fellow at the Arkleton Centre for Rural Development Research at the University of Aberdeen. Dr Munro's work is based at Sabhal Mor Ostaig on Skye and is supported by Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Leirsinn Research Centre for Gaelic.