Includes bibliographical references (pages 171-183) and index.

Introduction: The subject of governance -- From freedom to necessity -- Resilience : the self-production of society -- Development and human agency -- The social construction of difference -- Empowerment and human security -- Conclusion: Reasserting human freedom.

The last two decades have seen the rise to dominance of human-centred understandings of the world. Indeed, it is now rare to read any analysis of insecurity, conflict or development which does not discuss the need to empower local individuals or communities. As David Chandler argues in this path-breaking book, human-centred approaches have limited rather than expanded the transformative possibilities available to us, and if real change is to be achieved then a radical re-think is required.