In a paper presented at these meetings two years ago, Back argued that "the unsatisfactory state of rural development policy reflects in part either an inadequate or inaccessible knowledge base" (p. 1125). Basically, Back was arguing that research in rural, development had not provided policy-makers with the information necessary to formulate a cohesive national rural development policy. In addition, he argued that the reason for the "knowledge gap" is the institutional arrangements for conducting rural development research.