Who Decides and Who Invests? The Role of the Public, Private and Third Sectors in Rural Development according to Geographical Contexts: The LEADER Approach in Andalusia, 2007–2015

This study was carried out as part of the research project entitled "Successes and failures in the practice of neo-endogenous rural development in the European Union (1991-2014)" funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness within its Excellence Programme, CSO2017-89657-P. Additionally, this research is part of the project "El vaciamiento del campo andaluz. Practicas y propuestas para ocuparlo", funded by the Andalusian Regional Government, concretely the Centre of Andalusian Studies, PRY112/19. Finally, the publication of this work has been funded by the European Union project "Education, Agriculture and Resources for Territories and Heritage", 598839-EPP-1-2018-1-IT-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP (2018-2022).In general, the LEADER programme has had a positive impact, although it has also negative aspects. In this paper, we analyse the role of the three main stakeholders (public sector, private sector and third sector) within the LEADER local action groups (LAGs) in the decision-making process and final execution of the projects, to discover whether there is any relation between those taking the decisions and those carrying out the projects, according to the degree of rurality of the different areas. Our primary source was the files for all the successfully implemented LEADER projects in Andalusia between 2007 and 2015. Relevant findings are: although the public sector plays a leading role in the LAGs and in the decision-making process, most of the projects, as measured by total investment, are carried out by the private sector; the degree of rurality is an important factor, in that private sector investors tend to invest in peri-urban spaces, while public bodies, and especially local councils, invest in remote rural areas. The LAGs play a strategic role, in terms of making up for the almost negligible input from the third sector.Spanish Government CSO2017-89657-PAndalusian Regional Government PRY112/19European Commission 598839-EPP-1-2018-1-IT-EPPKA2-CBHE-J