Reconceptualizing the “Rural Problematique”: “The Migrant” as the Demonstrative Case for Policy Inertia

Stacey Haugen, University of Lethbridge
Lars Hallstrom, University of Lethbridge

Across developed economies, engagement with the question of the “rural problem” has grown. Rural populations are aging, declining and struggling across the developed world. While international migration has been utilized as one way to combat rural decline, rising populist attitudes and anti-immigrant sentiments present barriers to the retention of migrants in these spaces. This paper addresses the complexity of the “rural problematique” which relies upon a simplification of both rural and urban demographic realities, and the subsequent policy response that is largely exnovative and facilitates both political and policy inertia. We argue that in order for population science to inform public policy, the policy challenge being addressed must be fully understood. Drawing on the results from recently completed rural migration projects in Canada, and additional migration data and a policy analysis, this paper reconceptualizes rurality as “the policy problem.” We argue that the reason rural development policies have largely failed to revitalize rural places is because the construction of the problem as spatial and population based (rural versus urban) is inherently limited. We suggest that the problem needs to be redefined in order to facilitate adaptive policy and evidence informed responses to the broader developmental trajectories of those spaces.

Keywords: Population Policies, International Migration, Spatial Demography, Migrant Populations and Refugees

See extended abstract.