The Project Class in Central Europe: The Czech and Hungarian Cases

Abstract

This article examines the rise of the ‘project class’ in Central and Eastern Europe, linking it to the emerging rural development agenda, driven principally by the demands of EU accession. The emphasis on ‘projects’ in rural development, the demand for local expertise and the mobilisation of social capital are, it is argued, contributing to a restructuring of local power and the emergence of a new ‘project class’. Drawing upon fieldwork in Hungary and the Czech Republic, this article considers the phenomenon and its potential impact within rural social formations.

New Actors in Rural Development - The LEADER Approach and Projectification in Rural Croatia

“…Before they were employed with their LAG, the vast majority of them had obtained substantial experience in project management in various sectors. It should be noted that having a university degree, as well as proficiency in project management, have already been singled out as advantages in the assessment LAGs underwent in order to obtain financing under IPARD, 12 since LAG "leaders" who had such qualifications were awarded more "points".…”

“…Kovách and Kučerová, 2006;2009 also Kovách and Kučerová, 2006:10-11). Also, the "shift from a direct to an indirect model of intervention from policy centres" has created a demand for "properly constructed projects", and "actors with the intellectual capacity to design and manage programmes and networks" (ibid.…”

“…Packendorff and Lindgren, 2014) have already been recognized as important factors in the implementation of EU rural policies, and especially in new member states (cf. Kovách and Kučerová, 2006;2009). Our analysis will focus on LAG representatives, as they are directly locally involved in the processes of 2 Uredba o unutarnjem ustrojstvu Ministarstva poljoprivrede, ribarstva i ruralnog razvoja, NN 35/2008.…”

“…Most of our interviewees could, indeed, be considered representatives of what Kovách and Kučerová (2006;2009) term the "project class", a relatively new actor in rural development whose important position of translator and mediator between the higher, abstract policy spheres and funding opportunities, on the one hand, and the local (rural) context, on the other. As we shall attempt to demonstrate in the following analysis, our interviewees belong to a peculiar section of the rural "project class", one whose function is placed at the crossroads between civil society (LAGs in Croatia are formally registered as non-governmental organizations), the public service (how LAGs often define their own role in the society), and the economically-driven logic of success of project funding possibilities on the "open market".…”

Dossier Interdisciplinarité. Interdisciplinarity and young rural researchers

“…We may see this project market as a new redistributive system based on projectification, which is becoming a postmodern symbol of adaptability and contingency and a dominant redistributive unit (Sjöblom, 2003). Key actors of projectification, such as designers, administrators and practitioners, have to use their own knowledge to produce a "new kind of knowledge" (Kovách and Kučerová, 2006).…”