This book deals with two concepts, human rights and community development. Each of these is made up of two words whose meanings are complex and contested. One of the problems with much of the literature about either human rights or community development is that it too often treats the component words as non-problematic – indeed as self-evident in their meaning. Yet the four words human, rights, community and development are all highly problematic. Their meanings lend themselves to different interpretations, and the way in which each of them is used is highly ideological and value-laden. Therefore a book about human rights and community development explores difficult and contested territory. Part of our concern in this book will be to explore these difficult terms. Our aim is not to come up with a single ‘clear’ understanding of them, as all of them defy such simplistic treatment, but rather to understand some of the richness of thinking that lies behind each, and the questions that this thinking poses for anyone who claims to be concerned about human rights, or community development, or both.

As we explore the ideas of community development and human rights, what becomes clear is the common ground between them and the way in which each not only can contribute to the other, but also cannot do without the other.