Literature

the author points out `it would be dif® cult to imagine many European community organisations attempting to place the blame for such causes at the door of the state. Drawing such conclusions might just force them to take sides. It might force them to face a future without state funding.’ Earlier he con® rms this view with the depressing conclusion: `As management groups in community organisations compete for funding from government or the European Union, the last thing on their minds are the causes of the problems they are attempting to address.’ In the case of the Romanian Relief Fund, organised with great local energy by the Methodist Mission and the Rosemount Resource Centre, the question is much more one of the viability of aid provided by an outside charitable group for humanitarian purposes where there is no evidence of indigenous community structures in place which can respond and be built on. This is, of course, also an issue which often affects overseas aid initiatives more generally. It is not surprising but a little disappointing that so much of the chapter is focused on the legitimate criticism of the biased UN report which argued that such structures were in fact in place when, in reality, they had been systematically destroyed by the CeausË escu regime. Each of these case studies could merit a systematic treatment in its own right. They do serve to point up the variety of mechanisms within which community action based on voluntary initiatives as well as state-led interventions seeks to develop civil society. By their nature, such interventions challenge existing structures and power bases. Community workers or development workers are in the business of empowerment and that in itself often leads to a challenge to the status quo. It remains one of the major issues and dilemmas for the modern democratic state anxious to encourage and restrain and channel the popular expression of its citizens as participants in the decision-making process.