The Local Action Group and rural development by local actors: an Apulian case study, and a circumstantial method of assessing failure

In a research programme entitled "New forms of governance for strategic territorial development", coordinated by me as part of a Research Programme of National Interest (PRIN) in 2009, an analysis was conducted on six European regions. One of these was Apulia, in Italy. And Apulia has figured in a variety of volumes already published, dedicated to the discussion of existing and new intermediate institutions as possible agents for development within the framework of EU policies. This publication, while placed appropriately within the above noted research framework, is dedicated entirely to the region of Apulia. Accordingly, the discussion continues to focus on the same subjects, called upon to be protagonists, likewise the same strategies, and the same questions (answered only in part). Looking at the overall experience — or at least the substantial part explored here — the picture is disappointing. Perhaps because the expectations were too many or too high. At all events, the judgement of "failure" that recurs repeatedly in certain of the interviews is undoubtedly a worry.