Community Development and Beyond

The authors investigate the evolution of thought on community development from a methodology and technique to a set of (often normative) principles. Based on an extensive literature study the book argues that the more recently evolved fashionable concepts such as participatory development, people-centred development and empowerment can all be traced to a 'community development' origin. They conclude that community development was not evil but that, in the hands of powerful people, it became a tool of marginalisation and disempowerment. Key issues on community development are introduced and explained by way of annotated case studies.