Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: H. Hudečková Author-Workplace-Name: Faculty of Economics and Management, Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic Author-Name: M. Lošťák Author-Workplace-Name: Faculty of Economics and Management, Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic Title: LEADER in the Czech Republic and farming sector Abstract: The paper addresses the LEADER approach in the Czech Republic. Using documentary research and content analysis of the appropriate documents and the Local Action Groups information sheets, the paper firstly outlines the evolution of the LEADER approach in the Czech Republic (the paper points out the difference in understanding LEADER in the EU /focusing on capacity building and the use of intangible forms of capital/ and in the Czech Republic EU /focusing on investments/). The paper also analyses the participation of farmers and the farming related actors in the LEADER approach (approx. 30% of local action groups are composed by those actors, however, they mostly do not aim /similarly like non-farming actors/ at developing partnership but want to achieve the investments into production; that is why the Czech local action groups are rather quasi-partnerships; it is also reflected in a very low number of strategies aiming at the "adding value to local products" which is the closest to farmers /but it is the less opted theme: only 6% of projects/). The paper ends with the analysis of projects implemented under the LEADER scheme where the farmers participate. It shows that more than the integrated strategies, the Czech local action groups prefer the strategies of the multi-sector type. The paper also points out that the publicly available information about the activities of the local action groups is not sufficient, although the groups are funded from the public budgets. This fact makes the analysis more difficult as for the scientific merit but also contradicts the principles of democratic governance. Keywords: LEADER approach in the EU and in the Czech Republic, farmers in the LEADER approach, local action groups, governance Journal: Agricultural Economics Pages: 555-566 Volume: 54 Issue: 12 Year: 2008 DOI: 10.17221/289-AGRICECON File-URL: http://agricecon.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/289-AGRICECON.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/age-200812-0001.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlage:v:54:y:2008:i:12:id:289-AGRICECON Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: S. Buchta Author-Workplace-Name: Research Institute of Agriculture and Food Economics, Bratislava, Slovak Republic Author-Name: Z. Štulrajter Author-Workplace-Name: Research Institute of Agriculture and Food Economics, Bratislava, Slovak Republic Title: Marginalised groups of rural population Abstract: The paper deals with the analysis of the typology of unemployed people in agriculture. Approximately 35-40% of people from this unemployment group have already no more chance to be reintegrated into the labour market. The analysis points to out the regional occurrence of this type of unemployment (less urbanised sub-mountain areas, stagnating and backward regions facing various processes of de-industrialisation, etc) and evaluates its wider socio-economic impacts. After 2000, the fragmentation of employment contracts in the corporative types of farms (agricultural co-operatives and companies) begins to appear in the agricultural sector. The category of seasonal agricultural workers with decreased labour and social protection begins to emerge as well. As a result of the strategy to cope with the situation, a certain self-supplying (subsistence farming) subculture was established in the Slovak rural areas to mitigate the difficult economic conditions of the rural households endangered by income deprivation, including the decreased purchasing power of rural population. Keywords: social marginalisation, exclusion, agricultural population, labour market, agrarian unemployment, seasonal employment, self-supplying (subsistence farms) Journal: Agricultural Economics Pages: 566-574 Volume: 54 Issue: 12 Year: 2008 DOI: 10.17221/285-AGRICECON File-URL: http://agricecon.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/285-AGRICECON.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/age-200812-0002.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlage:v:54:y:2008:i:12:id:285-AGRICECON Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: J. Čmejrek Author-Workplace-Name: Faculty of Economics and Management, Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic Title: Political mediation and participation in the Czech rural areas Abstract: The objective of this paper is to show the mediation between citizens and political power by political parties in Czech rural areas. The position of political parties in rural municipalities is demonstrated in two perspectives. The top-down perspective is based on the distribution of several tens of thousands mandates in local municipal councils between political parties. The opposite perspective provides the bottom-up point of view - from the level of the individual municipalities, their party systems and party organisational structures. The analysis of the municipal election results reveals clearly that the role of political parties in local politics depends namely on the size of the given municipality. In this sense, the Czech Republic represents a very interesting example as it is characterised by a dense and heavily fragmented population settlement with a large number of small rural municipalities. In rural municipalities, we encounter incomplete party spectra and the absence of political parties in the smallest municipalities. Besides, the lists of candidates in rural municipalities reveal the weakness of the local party organisations that cannot avoid cooperating with the independent candidates. The small distance between the citizen and the elected body in a rural community significantly determines the forms of the local politics; the ideological and party mediation is superfluous, in fact, it is often seen as something harmful which divides the rural community. Keywords: political mediation, participation, rural municipalities, municipal councils, elections, political parties, party systems, independent candidates Journal: Agricultural Economics Pages: 575-581 Volume: 54 Issue: 12 Year: 2008 DOI: 10.17221/286-AGRICECON File-URL: http://agricecon.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/286-AGRICECON.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/age-200812-0003.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlage:v:54:y:2008:i:12:id:286-AGRICECON Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: L. Kocmánková-Menšíková Author-Workplace-Name: Faculty of Economics and Management,, Czech university of Life Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic Title: The need of information and extension service for the countryside and its development (the opinions of local actors) Abstract: The article starts with the theoretical definitions of various concepts (rural space, endogenous approach to the rural development, the actor operating in the particular locality for its development). Concerning the know-how of the rural/local actor, the information acquired also through extension service takes important position there. The methodological approach explains the use of sociological methods and techniques employed in research in two localities. This is continued by the analysis of the data gathered. The conclusions of the paper evaluate the knowledge from the group interviews and discuss the necessity of establishing an "institute" the task of which would be to provide and roof the extension service and the sufficient information level for the local, often rural actors. These actors then would use such information/extension service not only for a more efficient development of their localities, but also for a higher valorisation of their efforts in the "animation" of the rural localities. Keywords: extension service, information, local actor, group discussion, accessibility of rural areas Journal: Agricultural Economics Pages: 583-596 Volume: 54 Issue: 12 Year: 2008 DOI: 10.17221/287-AGRICECON File-URL: http://agricecon.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/287-AGRICECON.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/age-200812-0004.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlage:v:54:y:2008:i:12:id:287-AGRICECON Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: editors Title: Index of Agricultural Economics (Volume 54) Authors Index of Agricultural Economics Journal: Agricultural Economics Pages: X1 Volume: 54 Issue: 12 Year: 2008 DOI: 10.17221/288-AGRICECON File-URL: http://agricecon.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/288-AGRICECON.html File-Format: text/html Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlage:v:54:y:2008:i:12:id:288-AGRICECON