Acting Peripheries

An Introduction

Abstract

The term periphery is often linked to dominant images of rural areas, mainly portrayed as backward, unattractive and shrinking regions, or as idyllic tourist destinations. These labels are also assigned to actors in these regions and add a discursive element to economic, demographic and political peripheralization. The underlying discourses on such regions and their ‘passive’ residents are often seen as the outcome of uneven power relations and access to resources. However, actors in peripheral regions cannot be seen as passive victims of processes beyond their control, as they have capacities to act bearing potentials for strategic development that are often overlooked in political decision making.

            The contributions of this themed section suggest that ‘peripheral’ actors can rely on social interaction, communication, networking and coalition building as well as supportive institutional environments to respond to or oppose peripheralization. So far, empirical research has mainly focused on how peripheralization processes are (re-)produced on multiple scales. Based on extensive qualitative research in peripheral regions in Central and Eastern Europe and the United Kingdom, the different contributions shift the attention to the strategies of actors on local levels to cope with peripheralization. Based on heterogeneous forms of agency this allows for the creation of new “spaces of possibility”.