摘要：This paper explores the potentials and limits of using European structural and investment (ESI) funds for rural
development in one of the least developed areas of Central and Eastern Europe: Romania’s Sa˘laj county. The
research draws on peripheralization as a key theoretical concept and on frame analysis as a heuristic
framework for understanding the effects of policy instruments on development capacities in peripheral
places. Desk research and semi-structured interviews reveal how local leaders identify the challenges they
face and how they articulate development perspectives in relation to available policies. The key findings
are twofold. First, that ESI-funded rural development instruments tend to favour place-blind interventions
that do little to address peripheries’ economic weakness and lack of institutional capacity. Second, it can
be observed that the implementation of ESI funds has so far only marginally stimulated new styles of
policy action that shift local actors’ behaviour and expectations of the development policy system. To
address growing intra-regional disparities, the case is made for more reflective policy design for
strengthening institutional capacities and better integrating peripheries within their regional economies.
