Empowerment for disadvantaged communities is complex; issues involved are defining community, conflicts of interest, equating populism with empowerment, and viewing it as zero-sum. Given these impediments and the nature of disadvantage, community development should conduct rational analyses of need, continue dialog with community interests, and…

An instrumental/technocratic approach to evaluation of social development relies on primarily quantitative methods. An interpretive approach resists claims to legitimacy and authority of "experts" and questions existing interpretations. The latter approach is characterized by cultural relativism and subjectivity. (SK)

Summarizes competing approaches to the role of culture in community development and use of community media--as top-down dissemination of messages or as participatory action research. Presents a case study of the use of video for community participation and empowerment in Burkina Faso. (Author/SK)

In Iran, community mosques have been decentralized institutions of local power. Mosque leadership was influential in the overthrow of the Shah. However, the resulting Islamic Republic dominated and used mosques as agents of social control. (SK)

A Canadian regional job creation program was found to place women in jobs that further marginalized them in the work force. The process reinforces the status quo in terms of dominant and subordinate groups in the power structure. (SK)

British local authority and decision making procedures are described for community developers. Included are potential ways of influencing the authority system, and problems and areas of weakness that may be encountered in dealing with the system. (ABM)

Article by the Regional Development Section, United Nations, deals with the relationship between community development and government, at the national and local levels. Includes a section on the manner in which community development and broad policies of social institutional reform are interrelated, using land reform as a case in point. (Author/DR)