Versions of this paper were presented at The National Jobs Conference, April 23rd,
2010, Dunhill Ecopark, Ballyphilip, Co. Waterford and at the 2nd Irish Rural Studies
Symposium, August 31st 2010, University College Cork. Thanks are due for comments
and suggestions received from participants at both events.The downturn in the Irish economy coupled with high levels of unemployment has
focused attention on the need to promote economic development throughout the
economy. This paper provides case study evidence on one successful approach to
rural economic development by outlining the evolution, outcomes and key capabilities
involved in a collective action response to the challenge of rural underdevelopment in
North West Connemara. Reviewing a fifty year period, the case study shows that
collective action in the region has not only been a series of events, but more crucially
from a development perspective, it is embedded as an institution and a process.
Therefore, as a result of learning by this community over a fifty year period, a
collective action response has evolved as a key strategy to overcome government and
market failure in relation to rural development. This case provides a good example to
other communities of how locality can be drawn upon and used as an advantage in an
increasingly globalised environment and how a local community can seek to
ameliorate the negative aspects of globalisation by harnessing its local resources. In
broad policy terms, the implication is that there are public good benefits to be gained
from assisting and encouraging local communities through the provision of finance
and capability building support, to deliver collective action responses to their
particular challenges
