Abstract
Whereas some may consider community psychology (CP) a young field developed in the United States in the 1960s, it actually has a long history internationally. As one can learn in the Greek chapter of this book, for example, ideas such as community and political consciousness and their connections to social and psychological well-being can be traced all the way back to ancient philosophers such as Aristotle and Plato. In the contributions from Africa and Australasia, we learn that principles of CP have been part of the family and societal structures there for a very long time, disturbed only by the colonization of the past century. The chapters from Latin America demonstrate a history of the field based on liberation and social justice rather than a traditional psychology orientation. Today, CP is well established as a discipline in a few countries, whereas in others it is in its early infancy. Although it is growing in some regions, it is on the decline in several other countries. The uneven development and changing status of CP throughout the world lead to many questions such as: What are the contextual factors that facilitated the development of CP in these different countries? What factors are hindering its development? How similar is CP in these countries and to what degree are they different? What are the unique theories and methods that emerged or are emerging in these countries?