The road towards sustainable rural development: issues of theory, policy and research practice

Developing a more widespread diffusion of sustainable agricultural practices as part of progressing rural sustainable development is being hampered by different modes of environmental social thought. This introduction to this special issue on 'Reconstituting of nature through rural development practices' argues for a realignment of social theory and empirical practice in considering the real potentiality of alternative and emergent rural development cases. The social science of agro-ecology is introduced as an initial framework within which to assess such alternatives and emerging tendencies. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.