I have a new open-access paper out with the brilliant Gabriella Mwedzi, called ‘Using Community Power to Tackle Gender-Based Violence: An Intersectional Theorisation.’ The abstract is below, and the paper is completely free to download and share. It’s intended as a friendly critique and perhaps even a first step to taking a more GBV-sensitive and intersectional approach to Community Power. Do share onwards if appropriate and we really hope it’s useful. Download the full paper at https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/13607804241252271

What is the role of the community in tackling gender-based violence (GBV)? Could communities succeed in ways that states have failed? What approaches could make this possible? This article presents a theoretical discussion of Community Power, a recently codified and influential paradigm in Britain that focuses on ‘handing power’ to communities to deal with local issues. We are particularly interested in its potential to tackle GBV, a persistent issue with many social determinants relevant to Community Power. Our refractive analysis works on two levels: (1) we explore the possibilities of Community Power in relation to GBV; and (2) we use GBV as a lens on Community Power to illuminate its broader strengths and weaknesses. In doing this, we call for a deeper engagement with the terms ‘community’ and ‘power’, which are under-theorised and flattened in the paradigm of Community Power. Applying intersectional theory to this task, we find that Community Power initiatives risk exacerbating the dynamics that underpin GBV. We make suggestions for creating a more GBV-sensitive approach to Community Power, which might also help to enhance this mode of practice in the round.