ABSTRACT
David Donnison's analysis without illusions points to some negative effects of community development efforts today. One is the contrast between the increasing global nature of the world economy and localized community development efforts. It is one thing to recognize that national economic policies might not benefit or might even harm localities and decide that some initiatives by localities are absolutely necessary. Factionalism as well as cynicism and naivety are high in low-income communities, so that community development efforts may be enveloped in conflicts about who controls and who benefits. The standard structural approach emphasizes improved economic policies and structures, building approaches to decent jobs, over-coming the income stagnation and the ‘quiet depression’ which has characterized the post-1973 period in the United States. Because of the social budget cutting of the Reagan years, the tendency is to call for the restoration of past programmes and for the enactment of long-sought legislation.
