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in terms of Gaventa’s three forms of power is superficial and does not sufficiently address the political realities of the neoliberalisation project in Poland. Newman’s case study of ActionAid International is the only one in the book that focuses on an international NGO, the others all being concerned with national and local organisations and movements. It is also the only one that critically examines the class position of the staff involved. From its beginnings in delivering essential services to those in need, ActionAid shifted in 1998 to a rights-based approach, which emphasised working with poor people on a global scale to demand services from their governments. Unfortunately, however, poor people were not able to participate on this scale or to influence their governments to any significant extent. Consequently, ActionAid staff, increasingly out of touch with the grassroots, made decisions on their behalf, which did not necessarily correspond with the needs or wishes of those they intended to help. Ultimately, ActionAid International failed to reflect on the class character of its own organisation and practices, and it is not clear from this chapter what it has achieved politically. Fung provides a searing indictment of the Hong Kong regime for its neoliberalist failure to take community development seriously. He also criticises community development workers in Hong Kong for ignoring the dynamics of global finance capital in which Hong Kong is a key player – dynamics that have produced worsening social inequality and declining welfare for the poorest communities. Taylor and Wilson provide an interesting discussion of the UK government’s policy on community organising. It is not clear, however, how much has been achieved by this programme. They suggest that its success should be judged on the basis of the 4,500 local leaders who it has recruited and trained (p.224), but surely we need to know something about what these leaders have actually done? Overall the book succeeds in its aims, with important insights and analyses in some of the case studies, which will be of interest to activists and policy-makers as well as students and community development practitioners.