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Synopsis This work is the first in two-volume series edited by the author on the subject of participatory development. In this volume are presented shorter and adapted versions of a first set of empirical studies that the author had initiated in a programme of the International Labour Office in Geneva in the late seventies, and conceptual reflections on the question and problematic of people’s participation in development. First published in 1981 in development, the journal of the society for International development, these studies and reflections are among the pioneering works on the subject, which have had considerable impact on intellectual thinking and grassroots activism in this field. The studies that have been adapted in this volume are on disadvantaged popular communities in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Peru, Chile, Ethiopia and Tanzania. The reflections include a contribution by Orlando Fals-Borda on the challenge of Action Research, also one of the earliest articulations relating action research with activism to promote people’s empowerment and participation. A contribution by the International Centre for Law in Development is also included. A second volume in this series, presenting subsequent studies, reports and reflections, follows.