Joint Governance: A Powerful Driver of the Development of Rural Communities/la Gouvernance Partenariale: Un Facteur Determinant Du Developpement des Communautes Rurales (Part I: the Essential Presence of the Actor/Partie I: L'indispensable Presence de L'acteur‪)‬

Abstract Joint governance can make a difference in the trajectory of development of any rural community, be it classed as leading, stable or lagging. This governance model manifests itself through a balanced participation of various actors in community decision-making. By various actors, we mean the private sector, local government and civil society or citizens. Such joint governance, and the territorial management associated with it, seems to be more frequently present in leading communities such as in the village of Doaktown studied in this article. That kind of governance contrasts significantly with what we found in the lagging community facing economic and social decline. Local governance in Lomer (fictional name) seems monopolised by local groups (clans) not interested in the well-being of the whole community but in the promotion of their specific interests. These case studies show how, for the leading community, specific social rules emerge and contribute to effective local governance and, for the lagging community, how unresolved local conflicts generate a cycle of devitalisation that is difficult to reverse.