Exploring the Dimensions of Democracy in Community Development

Cawley, Richard

doi:10.1080/15575338409490071

Cited by 12 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…Field agents have the relationship skills and the time necessary to reach out to people who need emotional support, reassurance and the opportunity to ventilate their feelings. Then, and only then, can the rural field agent productively broker expert solutions (Mermelstein & Sundet, 1980) and attain the required involvement level (Cawley, 1984) (Sundet & Mermelstein, 1990, pp. 103-104).…”

Section: The Role Of Practitionersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-Organization and Community-Based Development Initiatives

Rupasingha

Wojan²,

Freshwater

1999

Community Development Society. Journal

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The self-organization paradigm, a theoretical framework with roots in biology and physics, is proposed to have relevance to understanding change in social systems. The processes and design features associated with self-organization can be used to describe the dynamics of social groups and organizations, especially in cases where non-marginal change disrupts the basic structure of a community. Self-organization refers to the ability of a complex system, when exposed to severe shock, to find a new equilibrium that may be far from its starting point. When applied to economic systems it leads to a major shift in perspective, from a search for ways to return to the prior equilibrium, to a search for a new one. Recent advances in our understanding of community-based development initiatives are shown to be consistent with the notion of a self-organizing system. In this article, we discuss the conditions necessary for this type of approach to work When development is seen in this context, the roles of community development professionals and senior levels of government also are altered. Finally, we note that self-organization complements rather than replaces traditional equilibrium models, which remain useful for analysis of marginal change.

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Section: The Role Of Practitionersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-Organization and Community-Based Development Initiatives

Rupasingha

Wojan²,

Freshwater

1999

Community Development Society. Journal

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“…The process of community development of Hou-jin will be ananlyzied in detail by answering the questions presented below. These questions are synthesized from those that have been raised by Cawley (1984), Kelman and Warwick (1978), Dersham, Karns, Lackey, and Timmons (1991) as criteria to 10. To what extent did the process enhance the power of the community people to solve problems?…”

Section: Methods Of the Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hou-Jin : a case study of external assistance in community action

Chao-Hsing¹

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The protest of the Hou-jin community in Kaohsiung Taiwan against Chinese Petroleum Corporation's erection of the fifth naphtha cracker (FNC) plant lasted for more than three years, from July 1987 to September 1990, when construction for the new plant began. As a community of seventeen thousand people, Hou-jin had fought with the giant corporation that was supported by the policy of Ministry of Economic Affairs. Although construction of the fifth naphtha cracker plant finally started, the efforts of Hou-jin residents had born fruit. Because of the importance of the anti-FNC movement process, the Hou-jin community has become an object of study for sociologists and humanists. Although some among them have noticed the roles of external groups in the movement process (Wang 1989; Chou 1990), they focused mainly on the community itself. Interactions between the community and external groups were neglected. In the process of Hou-jin's anti-FNC movement, the community had had help from several different external groups. These external groups did not claim themselves as community development practitioners, nor did the community claim their movement as a community development process.Nonetheless, the movement involved almost the whole community and aimed to change living conditions of the community. It therefore fits certain characteristics of a community development process. As erection of the fifth naphtha cracker plant was finally started on September 21, 1990, the main goal of the community action literally failed. But the movement made a lot of differences too. Since the anti-FNC action has been called one of the most predominant community movements in Taiwan, it is worthwhile to look into the details of the whole process, so that community development practitioners might be able to learn some valuable experiences from the process. In this research, the researcher starts by reviewing the literature concerning definition of community development, environmental disputes and research done on Houjin community. The second chapter illustrated the purposes and method of the research. A short history of the anti-FNC movement is given in Chapter 3 describing the ups and downs of the community action. Chapter 4, the analysis of the process, is a comparison of the anti-FNC movement and the characteristics of an ideal community development process. Chapter 5 wraps up the research by proposing conclusions, some recommendations for community development worker, and suggestions for further studies in the future.

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Promoting the development of a religious congregation through a needs and resources assessment

Hair

Walsh‐Bowers

1992

J. Community Psychol.

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The context and processes of an intervention intended to revitalize a church congregation's aspirations and practices as an empowered community during a period of rapid growth are described. Incorporating the principles of process‐oriented community and organization development with standard group techniques and interviewing, the first author, as an internal consultant, cooperated with the church members, board, and pastors in identifying both their needs and resources. The process and content results of the assessment demonstrated that spiritual, social, personal, and material needs and indigenous resources were successfully identified. The multiple methods of data collection enabled divergent groups in the congregation to participate and offered church members the opportunity to develop skills in assessment, problem solving, and decision making. With systematic feedback from the assessment the congregation subsequently specified courses of remedial action to promote a renewed sense of commitment to its core values; follow‐up over a year later showed that congregational development continued but with some retrenchment. The authors discuss the transferability of the findings, the role of an internal consultant, and the value of community and organization development for religious congregations.

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Exploring the Dimensions of Democracy in Community Development

Cited by 12 publications

References 1 publication

Self-Organization and Community-Based Development Initiatives

Self-Organization and Community-Based Development Initiatives

Hou-Jin : a case study of external assistance in community action

Promoting the development of a religious congregation through a needs and resources assessment

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