Izvirni znanstveni članek THE MODEL OF POST-SOCIALIST RURAL TRANSITION: OPENNESS AND (UN)LEARNING VERSUS INFORMAL RELATIONS Dr. Garri Raagmaa* Abstract The aim of this article is to discuss development issues at the locality level. Below, we are working with the learning economy theory and the concept of bottom-up indigenous development in combination with other approaches. The principal transformation model for the post-soviet rural areas further development is elaborated. The acknowledgement of local social networks is crucial, especially in eco- nomically decreasing areas. Innovation and development potential in rural areas with primary sector dominance, where few service industries and jobs have been created, remain usually low. Improving infrastructures and creating jobs by outside authorities (state subsidies) and enterprises only will not be enough for the sustainable economic development of a locality or a region. Besides, in the case of strengthening informal structures and behaviour, local (self)exclusion will tend to grow as a side effect in these areas. The (self)closeness of the society can be considered as an important impedi- ment to indigenous development. Key words: rural restructuring, institutional thickness, self-closene, Estonia. Mr. Garri Raagmaa (M.Sc.) Institute of Geography, University of Tartu, Vanemuise 46, 51014, Tartu, ESTONIA /e-mail: garri@ut.ee; http://www.geo.ut.ee In the conditions of the modern world, only the man apart, the marginal, the peripheral the anomic, those excluded from the horde has a creative capacity... Henry Lefebvre 1980