Community as a policy instrument: A comparative analysis

Over recent decades, "community" has been a powerful theme in social policy development not only in the United States but elsewhere in North America a nd Europe as well. Existing analyses of the concept, however, tended to app roach it more from philosophical and sociological perspectives than from th e standpoint of policy analysis. This article examines the uses of communit y as a policy instrument, considering its diverse applications as policy ob jective, policy means, and policy rhetoric. A cross-section of major commun ity-oriented policies in the United Stares and Quebec is analyzed providing a basis for policy-level, regime-level, and political culture comparisons. Identifying the key components that community policies may incorporate, we propose a schema for systematically describing different types of interven tions. Finally, we review the difficulties encountered in implementing poli cies with a community orientation and the need to avoid simplistic judgment s of success and failure.