Around three-quarters of the world's poor live in rural areas and the gap between poor and rich continues to widen. The fate of the rural poor can be greatly influenced by policies in areas such as agriculture, land, social protection, natural resources, health, education and trade. This module reviews key policies and issues in these and other areas. It also guides students to critically analyse policy choices within specific contexts. Rural Policies recognises the importance of looking at rural policies with consideration of particular socio-economic contexts and in relation to larger-scale trends that are affecting rural areas: globalisation, urbanisation, de-agrarianisation, rural-urban linkages, conflict, HIV/AIDS and decentralisation. At the same time, it is based on the premise that rural areas require particular policies because of the distinct conditions characterizing them.