Community Development: Origins and Hybridization in Northern Ireland

Abstract : This article will study the emergence of community development (CD) as a peacebuilding strategy in the 1970s in Northern Ireland. It will demonstrate that CD went through a successful hybridization process in the early 1970s. Hybridization refers to the process of cross\textendashfertilization between international peacebuilding activities and local practices. It takes place when peace activists locally reshape international models through everyday practices (Richmond & Mitchell 2011). In Northern Ireland, CD stands as a case in point as the initial model, which was conceived by the Colonial Office in order to empower local communities and elites in the colonies, was adapted to local circumstances by the members of the NICRC (1969\textendash1974) and was then readily adopted by community activists on the ground. This article will also demonstrate that CD was conceived as a peacebuilding strategy which tried to prevent the occurrence of violence in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Its promoters believed that CD could represent an alternative to violence as it was based on the needs of the community and sought to develop organisational skills.