Rural Restructuring and Local/Regional Governance in the Baltic States after 1990 Dr Garri Raagmaa University of Tartu Pärnu College Ringi 35, 80012 Pärnu, Estonia Tel. +372 4450 520 Fax +372 4450 530 GSM +372 5278 899 E-mail: garri@ut.ee Dr Viktor Trasberg University of Tartu, Faculty of Economics Narva 4, 51009 Tartu, Estonia Tel. +372) 737 5647 E-mail: viktor.trasberg@ut.ee Dr Donatas Burneika Vilnius University, Institute of Geology and Geography T. Ševčenkos str. 13, 03223 Vilnius, Lithunia Tel. +37052104714; GSM +370 6830 9821 E-mail: donatas.burneika@geo.lt Dr Zaiga Krisjane University of Latvia, Faculty of Geography and Earth Sciences, Department of Geography Raiņa bulv.19, 1586 Rīga, Latvia Tel. +371 7336 373 Fax: +371 7332704 E-mail: zaiga.krisjane@lu.lv Taivo Tali (MSc) University of Tartu, Faculty of Science and Technology, Department of Geography Vanemuise 46, 51014 Tartu, Estonia Tel.: +372 7375 816 Fax: +372 7375 825 E-mail: taivo.tali@tartumaa.ee ABSTRACT The aim of this paper is to discuss the restructuring of primary sector dominant rural areas in the Baltic States with a special focus on local governance and administrative structures. In the theoretical part, we elaborate on a principal transformation model for Baltic rural areas. Despite similar macro-economic processes in all three Baltic States, local and regional governance has developed differently and, hypothetically, this has had a different impact on the economic development of regions. We have used statistics, legal documents, small case studies, observations, and secondary sources of some more detailed studies for this paper. Key words: rural areas, restructuring, local and regional governance