This book explores current theoretical and policy developments in EU rural policy during the 4.0 period. The authors offer an analysis of the contradictory and complex drivers and multiple impacts of Period 4.0 policy within the specific territorial context of its implementation.

Contents Table of contents * Part I: Introduction * Part II: Rural studies in Period 4.0 - theoretical departures * 2. Defining rural areas: a never-ending exercise? * 3. Analysis of Period 4.0 factors in the context of theoretical approaches to rural studies * 4. Paradigms of rural, farm and agricultural diversification * 5. The policy context - Development paradigm of or stabilisation of rural areas? * 6. Partial conclusion * Part III: Territorial drivers of Rural Development 4.0 * 7. Digital rural regions - infrastructure and agenda * 8. Public services in the countryside - context, problems and relevant policy-making * 9. The role of human resources in Period 4.0 - challenges of rural labour markets, education and training, and territorial specifics of EU countries * 10. Territorial urban-rural links - new trends and drivers of regional development * 11. Partial conclusion * Part IV: The Neo-productivist paradigm of Rural Development Policy - challenges ahead * 12. Rural Studies and Rural Development Policy: A Complex, Charged and Contradictory Nexus * 13. Neo-productivism in the EU's rural development policy-making * 14. Coherence and mismatch of Neo-productivist Rural Policy and Countryside 4.0 * 15. Methodological context of rural development policy assessment * 16. Partial conclusion * Part V: Conclusions * Appendix I: About the Author/Editor *