Action Research for Sustainable Development in a Turbulent World

This book has been conceived by eight long-time action researchers/elders and written by them and four of their mentees after celebrating 20 years of action learning and action research (ALAR) at the Eighth World Congress on ALAR in Melbourne in September 2010. The congress theme was: “Appreciating our diverse pasts, comprehending our complex presents, prefiguring our possible futures”. Jointly these elders have an impressive record of publications. In this book they reflect on their rich experience of ALAR congresses and conferences, on their practical and theoretical work, and on their stories and conclusions at the end of two decades. Here they contextualise these reflections in the light of global developments in this increasingly troubled 21st century marked by greater complexity through globalisation, neo-liberalism, climate change and other sources of practical and ideological change. We argue that in this new era, action learning, action research and action leadership are appropriate methodologies for resolving complex problems of personal, professional, organisational and community development and sustainability.