ABSTRACT

The politics of community enters the debate from the state-centred position by way of the arguments associated with the generation of social capital, as elaborated by Robert Putnam. The social capital argument provides to the need to prioritize social objectives in order to reinvigorate the economy. A healthy economy depends upon a healthy society rather than the other way round. Unlike Putnam, however, who tends to underplay the role of the state, writers on social capital from the left point to the need for greater state intervention to facilitate the generation of social capital. Community organizations are able to play less of a critical role in the public arena the more accountable they become to the government of the day. Agency workers employed in community-based organizations were able to identify new issues of concern and monitor the government's performance, making the government account for their performance in terms of their own social justice rhetoric.