Rural Developmentis a textbook that offers a comparative and critical examination of economic, social and cultural aspects of rural development efforts in the global north and south. By consistently using examples from these two settings the book highlights similarities of processes as well as differences in contexts.

The authors' knowledge of Afghanistan and Sweden respectively creates a core for the discussions which are complemented with a wide range of other empirical examples. Rural Developmentis divided into nine chapters, each with a thematic focus. These range from concepts and theories through rural livelihoods and natural resources to discussions on policy and processes of change. The book sees rural development as a multi-level, multi-actor and multi-facetted subject area requiring multidisciplinary perspectives to support it and to analyse it. Throughout the book examples of rural development interventions are discussed using analytical concepts such as power, discourse, consequences and context to grasp rural development as practices that amount to much more than what policy documents indicate.

The book is written in a way that makes it accessible for undergraduates while at the same time allowing for deeper reading by master students and Ph.D.'s. Every chapter is linked to discussion questions as well as suggested further readings and useful websites.

ng analytical concepts such as power, discourse, consequences and context to grasp rural development as practices that amount to much more than what policy documents indicate.

The book is written in a way that makes it accessible for undergraduates while at the same time allowing for deeper reading by master students and Ph.D.'s. Every chapter is linked to discussion questions as well as suggested further readings and useful websites.