Editorial. The eu leader Programme: Rural Development Laboratory

This paper introduces the theme of the seven papers of this 'special issue'on the eu leader rural development initiative. Having described the genesis and general characteristics of leader ,the paper proposes a set of four analytical frameworks which might serve to guide the study of leader-type interventions:(I)leader as a quasi-marketization of rural development;(II)leader as the politicization/democratization of rural development;(III)leader and endogenous development as discourse;and (IV)leader and the potential for a humanistic/personalist form of development.