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Popular participation, local democracy, grassroots organization — watchwords the world over for both social movements and development organizations.

Effective community participation can lead to social and personal empowerment, economic development, and sociopolitical transformation. But there are obstacles: the power of central bureaucracies, the lack of local skills and organizational experience, social divisions, and the impact of national and transnational structures. Community Power and Grassroots Democracy is a groundbreaking and insighful book that examines a collection of community initiatives from Latin America. The strengths and weaknesses, limits and potential of these initiatives are analyzed, and the new "social-movements" approach is skilfully married with resource-mobilization theory to produce a more inclusive development model.

Community Power and Grassroots Democracy is an insightful book that adeptly combines theoretical sophistication with first-hand,"on-the-job" experience. It will interest researchers, scholars, students, and activists in the areas of development studies, political science, community participation, and human rights.

THE EDITORS

Michael Kaufman lives in Toronto, Canada, and is a full-time writer and educator on gender issues. He was previously Deputy Director of the Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean at York University in Toronto.

Haroldo Dilla Alfonso is a senior researcher at the Centro de Estudios sobre América and senior adjunct professor in the Faculty of Philosophy and History at the University of Havana in Havana, Cuba.

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