Politics, Power and Community Development

Description

The increasing impact of neoliberalism across the globe means that a complex interplay of democratic, economic and managerial rationalities now frame the parameters and practices of community development. This book explores how contemporary politics, and the power relations it reflects and projects, is shaping the field today. This first title in the timely Rethinking Community Development series presents unique and critical reflections on policy and practice in Taiwan, Australia, India, South Africa, Burundi, Germany, the USA, Ireland, Malawi, Ecuadorian and Peruvian Amazonia and the UK. It addresses the global dominance of neoliberalism, and the extent to which practitioners, activists and programmes can challenge, critique, engage with or resist its influence. Addressing key dilemmas and challenges being navigated by students, academics, professionals and activists, this is a vital intellectual and practical resource.

Rosie Meade is a lecturer in Social Policy at University College Cork in Ireland. She has a long-standing activist and academic interest in community development, social movements and community arts, and has published widely on related themes. Mae Shaw is Senior Lecturer in Community Education at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. With a background in practice, she has a long established interest in the politics of community development and has published widely in this field. Sarah Banks is Co-director of the Centre for Social Justice and Community Action and Professor in the School of Applied Social Sciences at Durham University, UK. She teaches and researches in the fields of professional ethics, community development and community-based participatory research.

"full of analytical power, and hopeful stories of how community development can support political change...the book has managed to stretch the imagination beyond the gaze of the minority North." Community Development "Bringing an appropriately political focus to bear on the discussion around community development, this interesting and stimulating collection provides an inclusively international and critical overview of the complex and constant interplay between the processes of community development, politics and power." Fred Powell, University College Cork