Intangible resources of rural development policy: pyramid of opportunities

The article was prepared with the financial support of the Russian Science Foundation and KNF within the framework of the 2021 competition “Conducting fundamental scientific research and exploratory scientific research by individual scientific groups” (regional competition), project No. 22-18-20059 “Policy for the development of rural areas of the Krasnodar Territory: the potential of intangible resources”.

Abstract

Political phenomena and processes occurring in rural areas, which were largely neglected by political scientists, are attracting more attention and they present promising problems, which are associated both with ongoing geopolitical transformations and with public discourse on food security and demographic processes. The formation of political rural studies as a sub-branch of political science stands is in its infancy. The purpose of our study is to identify the influence of intangible resources on rural development policy. Development policy is presented as a non-linear process associated with the search and institutional design of alternative development opportunities that take into account the diversity of meanings and dimensions of social well-being. The empirical research methodology underlying this paper combines qualitative and quantitative strategies and is based on an expert survey, traditional document analysis, statistical data analysis, focus group interviews in 12 rural settlements in the Krasnodar Territory and a mass survey. Qualitative and quantitative data analysis allowed us to present a set of intangible resources as a pyramid, in which the broad base, the foundation, is made up of first-order resources - local identity, human potential and leadership; the second tier of the pyramid consists of second-order resources - social capital, development institutions; and at the top are third-order resources - civil solidarity, trust and subjective well-being. A comprehensive analysis of intangible resources has allowed us to identify four empirical models of development policy: a responsible development model, a fragmented development model, a distant development model and a stagnant model.

Keywords

development policy, rural areas, development policy models, intangible resources, pyramid of intangible resources, local identity, human potential, leadership, development institutions, Krasnodar Krai.

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