Government within governance? Polish rural development partnerships through the lens of functional representation

Functional interest representation, which relates to the representation of discrete sectoral or professional interests, is a fundamental concept underpinning the organisational methodology of EU governance and programmes such as LEADER. The policy rationalisation of LEADER is premised on creating alliances between diverse functional interests so that development can be approached in an integrated way. However, the analytical vantage point of the governance and rural development literature heretofore has been dominated by theories of territorial interest representation with comparatively less focus on the importance of functional interest representation sui generis. A prevalent research emphasis has been on interactions between partners and development outcomes of LEADER partnerships. Little research effort has been devoted to discerning the primary functional interests of those who become involved in LEADER partnerships in the first instance, and there is an absence of clear criteria by which sectoral representatives are classified. Our article, presenting empirical research undertaken in post-socialist Poland, presents an analysis of the membership composition of all LEADER LAG decision-making committees nationally, identifying the dominant sectoral affiliations of members. Next we examine the extent to which the thresholds stipulated by EU rules in order to promote balanced representation of statutory, private and third sector interests are actually achieved. We find that while many LEADER partnerships officially appear to adhere to balanced tri-partite membership, more than half of all partnerships are in reality prone to domination or monopolisation by statutory actors. We draw from qualitative interviews to identify explanatory factors for partnerships' failure to represent diverse functional interests. Tensions between territorial and functional interest representation are highlighted and we find that embedded structures within territories can, through relational dynamics such as professional dependency, tokenism and clientelism, impede the realisation of governance processes.