JOURNAL OF RURAL RESEARCH
Year:2020 | Volume:11 | Issue:1|Papers Count:12

This article attempts to interpret the formation of discourse of development in Iran’ s rural development policies by analyzing the discourse of Hashemi and Ahmadinejad governments in the areas of development in general and rural development in particular. The research method used in this article is based on the principles of Laclau and Mouffe's Discourse Theory and the proposed method of Post-foundation discourse analysis (PDA). The data used in this article was collected from interviews, lectures, and statements of presidents and clauses and notes related to rural areas in the context of the First, Second, and Fifth Five-Year Development Plans by purposive sampling. The results showed that the rural areas had been incorporated into the discourse of Hashemi’ s government domain. But the set of factors led to the incomplete relationship between the rural sphere and the discourse of government causing many inconsistencies in this area. On the other hand, discourse of Ahmadinejad government has a stronger and more discursive relationship with the rural issues. In other words, the discourse of Ahmadinejad's government to disrupt the discourse of Hashemi government focusing on physical and external conditions, seeks to improve these conditions. However, as in the discourse of Hashemi’ s government, the discourse of Ahmadinejad's government ultimately did not pay much attention to the cultural and social spheres of development, emphasizing instead the improved distribution of physical facilities.

In recent decades, planning system has faced a change in the concept of development because of the intrinsic dynamics of human societies and the ineffectiveness of theories in solving problems. The Intellectual concept development has required assessment of the conceptual framework of planning theories in the rural development. Therefore, the purpose of the present study is to investigate rural development policies of the Sixth Five-Year Development Plan of Iran based on postmodernism theory. The research methodology is qualitative based on Meta-synthesis and content analysis. The method of collecting data is library-based and logical reasoning was used to understand the categories. The results showed that key principles of postmodernism theory are non-rationality. Evaluation of rural development policies revealed that these policies are relatively compliant with principles of postmodernism planning. In other words, programs derived from modernism are observed along with postmodernism planning policies that implies to eclecticism thoughts in provision of rural development policies of the Sixth Five-Year Development Plan.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats of sustainability of adaptation policies with regard to sustainability indicators. In terms of methodological process, this study was conducted in two consecutive stages. The first stage of this research involves identification and extraction a list of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to climate change adaptation policies in agriculture based on a qualitative research paradigm and utilizing focused group techniques and interview with 17 experts from Ministery of Agriculture Jihad. In the second stage of the research, Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method was conducted to compare pairs of criteria and sub-criteria with respect to the main goal of sustainability of policies as well as pair-wise comparison of each set of alternatives into four classes of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Data were analyzed by Expert Choice software. After determining the weight of each criterion and sub-criterion, the alternative priorities were identified as four components of strength, weakness, opportunity and threat. The results showed that environmental, economic and social criteria were the most important to achieve sustainability of policies, respectively. Also in environmental criteria, “ non-emission of greenhouse gas” , in economic criteria, “ helping to diversify farmers' income” and in social criteria, “ attention to social participation” were identified as the most important sub-criteria.

Villages have been gradually established and developed in a natural environment using local ma-terials and technology over the decades. People expanded the agricultural fields by managing water and rural forests serve as the sink of resources used by humans for daily life and agricul-ture. Current condition of a landscape can be a reliable indicator of future trends and areas in need of further attention. Moreover there are specific cultural backgrounds, which have influ-enced on the settlement patterns of regions and countries. So, many criteria must be considered in order to achieve sustainability. Given that the destruction of rural environments and its valua-ble elements is taking place, it is necessary to identify and explain the indicators of a sustainable rural landscape in accordance with the situation and conditions in Iran. The research method is exploratory, in which the main indicators of sustainable landscape are explained through a con-tinuous and selective process of accreditation and through the evaluation of university profes-sors, professionals, managers and decision makers in the field of rural. The results of 25 ques-tionnaires (consisting of four dimensions and 130 indicators) were included in the evaluation. The respondents were asked to rank each indicator based on “ related rate” , “ importance” and “ measurability” . The results show that the sustainable landscape of rural area is related to their multi-functionality services; spatial patterns of villages and natural resources. From the point of view of experts, the indicators of the sub-category “ socio-cultural dimension” have had the greatest impact on the sustainable rural landscape.

Identifying and studying facilities and determining the levels of rural sustainability are the first step in the process of rural planning and development. Today, given the importance of sustainability in development, determining the levels of rural sustainability is unnecessary. In this regard, the use of rural development indicators to achieve the desired goal can be considered. Accordingly, in this article, we have evaluated the sustainability of tourism development in the sample villages of Borujen city. The present research is applied in terms of purpose and methodological descriptive-analytical in terms of method. The required information was gathered based on documentary and field studies (questionnaire). To analyze the data, descriptive and inferential statistics and non-statistical methods (Barometr of Sustainability Radar) were used. The results revealed that the development of rural tourism in the studied villages is generally at the average level of sustainability. The social dimension had a better stability among the other studied dimensions. Significant differences were found between the studied villages. In general, the Averghan village had the highest and Katak village had the lowest score among other villages.

Developing rural tourism based on the development of sustainable tourism and turning tourism into an economic engine for the region to develop rural areas is one of the most important issues requiring the adoption of logical and strategic strategies in accordance with regional and local capabilities and with planning orientation. Therefore, the purpose of the present study is to develop the rural tourism destinations in the east of Mazandaran province, considering the spatial dimensions (human, activity, space), and the dimensions of sustainable development (economic, social, cultural, and environmental). This study is descriptive-analytical and the related data collected based on documentary analysis, surveying and field studies. The statistical sample of the study included 10 experts from the Organization of Cultural Heritage and Handicrafts of Tourism of the province and 21 dignitaries. The SOAR analysis technique was used to develop a strategy for developing and explaining the strengths, opportunities, aspirations and measurable results. The results of the study showed that stakeholders' most important strategies are holding conferences and meetings-the development of investment in rural tourism along with strengthening the physical infrastructures and eliminating the problems associated with environmental barriers (topography, slope and height) of tourism sites.

An analysis of international organizations reflects the centrality of health as a key indicator of sustainable development. Today, environmental quality of health has become one of the most important issues in rural settlements. In other words, in the literature on development and its related approaches, the issue of environmental health and efforts to promote this indicator is of paramount importance at the level of rural communities. The method is a library-based quantitative study and data were collected based on documentary analysis and field survey. Based on this, the components and health records of environmental quality were identified as the basis for developing the questionnaire as the main tool for research in field studies. Based on the five priority classes of Prescott Allen's utility survey in the economic dimension of 28 villages, some villages are in a potentially poor situation (poor utility). In the social dimension of the total number of studied villages, 20 were undesirable villages, six villages were in the unfavorable condition (weak utility) and four also had a moderate utility. Regarding the physical utility, 23 villages were in a state of complete disadvantage, six villages were in a poor potential situation (poor utility) and 1 village had a moderate utility. However, in terms of environmental sustainability, 22 villages were in a state of complete disadvantage and eight villages in a state of poor potential status (poor utility).

The unprecedented speed of science and technology and the relative economic need of different societies for technological entrepreneurship are undeniable and this need is specially felt in less developed countries. Nevertheless, technological entrepreneurship development in different areas has always been faced with different obstacles and problems and its most important application, that is modernization of emerging economies, is challenging. It is logical that removing these barriers requires precise and careful identification. Hence, in this study, a qualitative research method and semi-structured interviews were used to analyze technological entrepreneurship barriers in Sarbaz area of Sistan and Baluchestan province. The present study was a case study and its statistical community included experts working in organizations related to entrepreneurship and, of course, technological entrepreneurship and other economic activities in different areas of Sistan and Baluchestan province. They have been active or are still working in the area in question. After collecting the data using semi-structured interviews, the collected data were analyzed. Finally, by analyzing the interviews and the data, the barriers and problems of developing the technological entrepreneurship in Sarbaz County were identified. These barriers included economic barriers (13 components), educational barriers (12 components), psychological barriers (8 components), infrastructure barriers (7 components), cultural barriers (9 components), political barriers (6 components), managerial barriers (6 components), technological barriers (7 components), human resources, and capital constraints (7 components).

The purpose of the present research is to investigate the position of rural production cooperatives in the formation and of social capital. This study is descriptive-analytical survey-based study. Data were collected using library studies and field method using a questionnaire. The statistical population of the study consisted of 1655 members of rural production cooperatives in Hamadan, Iran, out of whom 180 were selected using Cochran formula by proportional random sampling method. Content validity of the questionnaire was assessed by subject matter experts. The construct validity and reliability of the construct were confirmed by calculating the composite reliability and Cronbach's alpha coefficient. The results showed that the level of capacity building of bonding and linking social capital was medium and low, respectively. Pearson correlation results confirmed the significant relationship of age, membership experience in the cooperative, agricultural experience and number of training courses with the variables of capacity building of linking and bonding social capital. In this regard, there was no significant difference between men and women in terms of capacity building of bonding social capital but capacity building of linking social capital of men was significantly higher than women. The results obtained in relation to the values of the fit indices showed that both the models of measuring capacity building of bonding and linking social capital had good fitting indices. The results of confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the bonding interaction (λ = 0. 83) was the strongest indicator of the capacity building of bonding social capital and formal relationship network (λ = 0. 84) was the strongest indicator of the capacity building of linking social capital.

Given the importance of the cooperative sector in the Iranian economy, from the perspective of its theoretical foundations and potential capabilities, the effective factors and ways of activating this capacity have become increasingly important. Co-operatives can be an appropriate lever for economic development that, along with government policies, are effective in improving the living and working conditions, production, and improvement of income and social status of the people. To achieve this goal, a mixed method research was used. Thus, in the first phase of the study, using unstructured and semi-structured interviews with managing directors and Board of Directors of cooperative companies in Sarab, Iran, as well as experts and using the qualitative grounded theory, the factors affecting the development of cooperative companies were identified. According to the results of grounded theory, management, organizational, economic, socio-cultural, legal, marketing, and educational factors are effective in the development of rural cooperatives. Co-operatives should, therefore, have the necessary planning in mind when selecting appropriate managers for co-operatives to enhance managerial factors. Based on the results, economic, legal, cultural-social, marketing and educational factors are in the next influential ones and rural cooperative planners should consider these factors in cooperatives and use these factors to develop rural cooperatives.

The increasing human need for water, on the one hand, and its scarcity, on the other, have increased the exploitation of this vital resource. Today, with more attention to groundwater resources and the vertical movement of these reservoirs to deeper layers, numerous problems are threatening life in rural habitats. The main purpose of the present study is to identify the causes of groundwater resource drawdown and its effect on the physical structure of rural areas. Crucially, it has doubled as population growth and demand increase to meet the needs of rural communities, excessive exploitation and pressure on these vital reserves. Documentary analysis and field study were used to collect the required data. The statistical population of the study included 89831 people in the rural population of Lordegan, out of which 115 were selected by purposive sampling method using the G-Power software. The data were analyzed by descriptive-analytical and causal-comparative methods on the SPSS and GIS software programs. The findings showed that increasing number of farmers, expanding irrigated areas and drilling deep wells during the period 1961-2016 are correlated with unnecessary exploitation and drop in groundwater level in the research area. The results further showed that the fragmentation of agricultural parts, granting permits for digging and breaking wells and the prevalence of aquacultural crops in interaction with population growth were the most important factors for double harvesting and reduction of groundwater levels to-22 meters in the plains. It has manifested itself in the form of the disappearance of wetlands and pastures, land subsidence of 85 cm, deep divisions in settlements and farms, changes in the appearance of plains, and, ultimately, the instability of rural settlements.

One of the components of the Haadi Plan is the development of rural passage networks. The network of passages is considered as the main mmaters of the village because all human, livestock and commodity transport is possible in these communication networks. The network paths do not follow a specific pattern and are a function of the terrain variables (roughness, height, and slope). The purpose of this study was to assess the compliance of the standards of road adjustment with the needs of the villagers in the mountainous areas of Paveh using descriptive-analytical and field research. Nine mountainous villages were randomly selected in Paveh and 83 pedestrian networks were examined for slope percentage, path forms, and elevation levels. Local people's views were sought on physical dimensions of the passages using 16 questions. Mean and chi-square analysis were used for data analysis. The findings related to elevation indicated that the villages were 1250 to 1750 m above sea level. In terms of slope, 24 passageways had slopes above 40%; 32 passageways had slopes between 20-39% and 19 passageways were less than 20% in slope and were open and roofed in texture. The results showed that 66% of the respondents identified the road network renovation to be in accordance with the needs of the village. Therefore, the findings point to the need to improve the rural passage network. Al rural passages should be covered by the executive. Second, the use of quality materials ensures the viability of the passage network. Third, the height factor should be taken into account in making it easier to climb the stairs.