Empowerment is an integral element of a democratic system. The maturity of a democracy is directly related to the level of empowerment its citizens and institutions experience. The term 'empowerment' is used in different contexts and this book addresses this problem through a comparative analysis of three major organisational systems - business, government and social development. The book presents a new conceptual framework for understanding the process of empowerment. It combines case studies specially for this volume, with secondary data and the author's first hand experience of working with development organisations. The differential understanding of empowerment in various organisational contexts helps to promote cross-sectoral learning, and contributes to a qualitative shift in empowering society as a whole.