Rethinking the Relationship with the State.

Abstract

This article explores the relationship between community work and the state in the UK in particular. By exploring the relevance and limitations of the book `In and against the state´, the article presents the idea that practitioners of community development can play a role in re-defining the role of the state by changing the discourse from `working in and against the state´ to `working for and as the state´. In this sense, constructing an ideological position regarding what the state should be and which role it should play could be equally as important as developing new approaches to practice in response to the influence of the state.