The European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) receives a significant share of EU-level expenditure which has attracted the attention of policy makers keen to understand the impacts of this expenditure on Europe's rural areas. However, the existing indicator-based approach for monitoring and evaluation fails to fully assess the Rural Development Programmes' operation and impacts. This book shows that a thorough review of the policy process can add valuable information for effective and efficient future support for European rural development. Based on a synthesis of relevant conceptual frameworks and theories of rural development, the book examines different vertical and horizontal governance approaches. Governance structures surrounding design (conception of instruments and operational modes), delivery (modes of transaction and control) and evaluation (timing, procedures etc.) are analysed in the first part of the book. Based on case study findings, the second part provides insight into the effects of rural development policy in individual regional and local contexts. The focus is on current challenges that future RD policies have to meet, such as improving the coordination of policies at the regional level, developing new delivery systems for agri-environmental measures, sustaining marginalizing rural areas or mainstreaming Leader. This book broadens the understanding of impacts of rural development policy processes at both national and regional levels within the 2007 to 2013 programming period. This is done against the background of the explicit objectives and priorities defined in the EAFRD Regulation and EU Strategic Guidelines, as well as their coherence with wider notions and experiences of effective rural development.