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In this article we argue that community development is an expression of the political and politicised assembly of an active citizenry in civil society, and may therefore be characterised as a late modern agorathe ancient Greek concept describing the interface between the public and private spheres of social life. Drawing on Bauman (in Globalization: the Human Consequences, Polity Press, Cambridge, 1998), we argue that the enemy of political association-of the agora-in late modernity is neoliberalism. The meaning of community development as the late modern agora is then explored, and we note the subsequent contestation over its status, as revealed in variant ideological perspectives on the role of civil society. In particular, we identify three dominant understandings and practices of community development: a neoliberal version where civil society is subservient to the needs of economic development; a corporatist version that advocates a partnership between the state, market and civil society; and an activist version, where community development is envisaged as local, nodal and global resistance to neoliberalism. In essence, we are posing the question: 'community development: of, alongside or against neoliberalism?'

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This article explores the value of applying groupwork expertise and skills in conducting focus group research. It identifies and provides an analysis of comparisons between the arenas of focus group moderation and social groupwork facilitation drawing from literature from both fields. In addition, the article discusses key skills needed by focus group moderators highlighting how these are also foundational social groupwork competencies. The article draws from the authors' experiences of designing and facilitating focus groups with teenagers as part of a 2-year research study examining the perceptions and experiences of young people from marginalized communities in relation to accessing third-level education. In light of this analysis, the authors assert that some developments in focus group research methodology have resulted in a greater degree of alignment between these two spheres and that focus group moderation is enhanced and rendered increasingly effective when groupwork skills, knowledge, and insights are employed.