Regional rural policy in northern Fenno-Scandia: Searching paths for the northern periphery in an interrating European economy

Abstract

In the Nordic Countries policies concentrated on rural development have shaped the social atmosphere in order to maintain permanent population in the sparsely populated northern Fenno-Scandia.

The current policies of rural development can be divided into two main categories. The first is linked with regional policy and the Scandinavian welfare state ideology, the second with the more independent line of activities arising from the basic administrative, municipal level. Municipal development activity has had an important role during the 1980's in diversifying the issues of rural policy and it has also introduced new types of actions and models for the rebuilding of the future of northern regions.

The northern sparsely populated rural areas are today facing an unprecedented challenge: European integration. This integration, which currently does not include rural policies per se, is largely production oriented; yet, regarding to the prerequisites for production, the rural northern Scandinavia is in a great dilemma. The question is, how the policies of welfare state and regional equality could best be carried on by choosing the current new paths for development.

This paper discusses the changes in the policy responses to the current integration phase of the European economy. This discussion is based on research into the questions of urbanised periphery, and on research carried out for the purposes of rural development. The article takes a look at the various aspects of rural regional policies as well as some policy solutions aiming at development in the peripheral region of northern Fenno-Scandia. The responses are discussed under the common denominator of European integration.