Community Development

Community development is the process by which groups of people define themselves as belonging to each other, create a set of shared, formal commitments, and, through an informal, emotional sense of belonging, work to enhance their collective lives. [Page 229]The empowerment that people need to enhance their collective lives is brought about by leadership that creates and transfers knowledge between the sectors of society most able to assist the community. In reality “no more than one percent of the population is involved in community decision making in most American cities” (Nix 1983, 238). Community development activities are typically carried out by a small group of people who are interested in and dedicated to providing community-based leadership.

People most commonly study leadership by examining the individual person as leader and the leader's authority, influence, and capacity to direct actions of followers. The study of the psychology of the leader and the leader's resulting psycho-socialpolitical ability to create, control, and maintain power were the chief avenues of inquiry for those who used traditional leadership methods often called “top down” approaches because the authority and direction of the initiative originate in official actors and not in the people and their community life. However, to meet the growing demand of urban and immigrant communities that are expanding in the United States, new emphases on bottom-up leadership required interdisciplinary conversations between the philosophy, sociology, anthropology, and pedagogy of community leadership. In addition, there is new interest in the “community as leader,” sometimes called “indigenous,” or “collaborative” leadership. In what is referred to as “bottom up” leadership, the authority and direction of the initiative originates in the people and their community life. The challenge that people face is that their understanding of the individual leader is oriented in schools of thought called “theoretical orientations,” whereas the new focus on community leadership is oriented in a people's commonsense understanding of the world around them and is still lacking a theoretical orientation.

Leadership is enhanced by the articulation of its philosophy. Philosopher Christopher Hodgkin argues that “Philosophically speaking, the formal leader has a specialist function in that he is expected to gain a position of value perspective which affords him a degree of detachment, non attachment and affective disinterest different from and greater than that to be expected in other organizational roles” (Hodgkin 1983, 209). If people do not understand leadership, they may see this function as crude or unpolished when in fact the leader has developed a rather sophisticated, clear-eyed, and imperturbable leadership style. The leader's obligation to protect the people, from wandering away from or losing their focus on community development goals, keeps the leader alert, aware, and oriented toward what Buddhists have called “mindfulness.”

A sign along a road in Puerto Princessa, Palawan, the Philippines, promoting civic pride and safety.

Stephen G.Donaldson; used with permission.

In a context of power the relationship between leaders and the people is one of exchange: The people elect their leaders, who are empowered to speak and act in their name. In a context of domination the [Page 230]people's leadership is suppressed, and the people are oppressed by others who are not elected but who have seized the ability to control the people's lives. True leadership is found in a democracy. In a democracy a “surplus” of benefits—not the least of which are emotional surpluses such as “devotion” to one another (Rich 1980, 574–575)—is exchanged between leaders and the people.

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