Government community empowerment agenda disempowering

"Consensus at times is hegemonic. When the policy of central government proclaims community empowerment, is there any need for community struggle? Where once 'community empowerment' implied conflict and an active counter-politics, today it is part of the vocabulary of new urban governance. Doutbless the shift towards a nominally bottom-up urban policy, and the new 'intsitutionalist' approach of planning together while living differently (Healey 1997), reflects a concern for the inclusion of diverse groups and that it is more democratic and potentially more effective than relying on the trickling down of market gains. Our concern is that a search for consensus can rely on a process of exclusion. More specifically, a policy environment that puts a premium on what is claimed to be a strategy based on 'holistic' partnerships may also crowd out dissent. In this case limited concepts of community and empowerment are measured by improving the competitiveness of individuals in the market, not in nurturing competing voices in democratic debate."

"Community Empowerment: Rethinking Resistance in an Era of Partnership", by Peter North and Irene Bruegel