Gibson, ChristopherWoolcock, Michael2012-06-182012-06-182005-09https://hdl.handle.net/10986/8276The notion of empowerment has been more often deductively claimed than carefully defined or inductively assessed by development scholars and practitioners alike. The authors define and assess empowerment through an in-depth examination of the extent to which a large community development project in rural Indonesia empowers participants (especially members of marginalized groups) through building their capacity to manage local conflict. Although the project induces conflict through its deployment of a competitive bidding process, the authors argue that, when well implemented, it can also enable otherwise unequal groups to more peacefully, equitably, and effectively engage one another. Using a mixed methods approach, they compare cases from otherwise similar treatment and control villages to shed light on the chief components of villagers' capacity to manage local conflict. They discuss the interdependencies of two major analytical realms-routines of inter-group collaboration, and sources of countervailing power-and their relation to local conflict processes and outcomes.CC BY 3.0 IGOACCOUNTABILITYACHIEVEMENTBENEFICIARIESCITIZEN PARTICIPATIONCIVIL SOCIETYCOLLABORATIONCOLLABORATIVE DECISION MAKINGCOLLECTIVE ACTIONCOLLECTIVE DECISION MAKINGCOMMUNITIESCOMMUNITY DEVELOPMENTCOMMUNITY DRIVEN DEVELOPMENTCOMMUNITY PARTICIPATIONCOMPETITIVE BIDDINGCONCENTRATIONS OF POWERCONFLICTCONFLICT MANAGEMENTCONFLICT MEDIATIONCONFLICT PREVENTIONCONFLICT RESOLUTIONCONFLICTSCONSULTATIONSCONTROL GROUPSDECISION MAKINGDECISION MAKING INSTITUTIONSDECISION MAKING PROCESSESDECISION-MAKINGDECISION-MAKING PROCESSESDECISIONMAKINGDEVELOPMENT PROCESSDISADVANTAGED GROUPSELITESEQUALITYFACILITATORSFIELDWORKFOCUS GROUPFOCUS GROUP DISCUSSIONSGROUP MEMBERSIDEASINNOVATIONSINTEREST GROUPINTEREST GROUPSINTERVIEWSLEADERSHIPLOCAL CONFLICTLOCAL KNOWLEDGEMARGINALIZED GROUPSMOTIVATIONNEGOTIATIONSPARTICIPANT OBSERVATIONSPARTICIPATORY DEVELOPMENTPEACEPERCEPTIONPLAYINGPOLITICAL PARTIESPOVERTY REDUCTIONPOVERTY REDUCTION EFFORTSPROBLEM SOLVINGPROGRAM EVALUATIONPROGRAMSPROJECT IMPLEMENTATIONPUBLIC PARTICIPATIONQUALITATIVE DATAREASONINGRECOGNITIONRECONSTRUCTIONRESEARCH DESIGNSCIENTISTSSOCIAL MOVEMENTSSOCIAL SCIENCESSOCIALIZATIONSOCIETYSTAKEHOLDERSTHINKINGTRADE UNIONSVILLAGEVILLAGESVIOLENCEWARWorld Bank10.1596/1813-9450-3713