Actors and Resources in Local Development in Eastern Germany: The Rural Territory Seen through European LEADER Program Projects

International audienceThis paper analyzes how the members of Local Action Groups (LAGs) from the European LEADER program (2007-2013) devise and pilot development projects in the former East Germany. The study emphasizes the monographic approach in the Henneberger Land LEADER region in Western Thuringia in order to gain an understanding of how these cooperative networks are working to diversify rural activities through the mobilization of new land resources. In these rural areas of the former GDR, which decollectivized rapidly in the early 1990s, the LEADER programs contribute to the implementation of rural policies based on principles of endogenous development and the mechanism of local governance. As they involve different actors who are called upon for their level of political responsibility, their profession, or their participation in community life, the LAGs raise the question of coordination of local action for territorial development