The importance of social capital as a resource for rural development, especially in the context of projects involving joint participation of state and civil society, is widely recognized today. This paper analyzes the obstacles confronted by local players--small farmers and government organizations--in the development of an irrigation area through…

Bologna reform eulogies and protests tend to focus on the benefits and shortcomings of the new two-tier curricula, their implementation and orientation. In this article, an assessment of the Bologna reforms is made in terms of their larger and less widely discussed systemic and institutional effects--which go far beyond the original reformers'…

In this paper, the impact of the creation of the European Area of Higher Education (EAHE) on Spanish tertiary education is analysed from the standpoint of educational improvement and academic development. First, the recent history of the HE system in Spain is summarised in order to understand the context in which this reform is taking place. Then,…