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Social Capital and Institutional Performance

This section is devoted to the role of social capital in political and institutional development. Particular attention is given to studies dealing with the relationship between the presence of a vibrant civil society and democratic institutions' performance. Suggested readings are closely related to those collected in the section on Social capital and participation .

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Essential Readings

• Badescu, G., Uslaner, E. (2003), Social Capital and Democratic Transition, London and New York, Routledge.

• Knack, S. (2002), Social Capital and the Quality of Government: Evidence From the U.S. States, American Journal of Political Science.

• Mutz, D. (2002), Cross-cutting Social Networks: Testing Democratic Theory in Practice, American Political Science Review, 96(1), 111-126.

• Putnam, R. (1993) Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy, Princeton University Press, Princeton, trad. it. La tradizione civica nelle regioni italiane, Mondadori, Milano

• Putnam, R. (ed) (2002), Democracies in flux: The Evolution of Social Capital in Contemporary Society, Oxford, Oxford University Press.

• Uslaner, E. (1999), Democracy and Social Capital, in M. Warren, ed., Democracy and Trust, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

• Uslaner, E. (2003), Political Parties and Social Capital, Political Parties or Social Capital, in R.S. Katz and W.F. Crotty, eds., Handbook of Political Parties, Sage, forthcoming, 2004.

• Van Deth, J.W., Maraffi, M. Newton, K., Whitely, P.F. (eds) (1999), Social Capital and European Democracy, London, Routledge.

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Further Readings

• Bjørnskov, C. (2003), Corruption and Social Capital, Aarhus School of Business, Department of Economics.

• Blair, H. (2000), Participation and Accountability at the Periphery: Democratic Local Governance in Six Countries, World Development Vol. 28, No. 1, 21-39.

• Booth, J., Bayer Richard, P. (1997), Civil Society, Political Capital and Democratization in Central America, Paper presented at the XXI International Congress of the Latin American Studies Association, Guadalajara, Mexico, April 17-19, 1997.

• Braithwaite, V.A., Levi, M. (1998), Trust and Governance, New York, Russel Sage Foundation.

• Brandell, C.E. (2003), Public Discourse and Social Capital: An Assessment of Open, Honest and Fair in One Community's Public Deliberation Processes, Western Michigan University, PhD Dissertation.

• Brehm, J., Rahn, W. (1997), Individual-Level evidence for the causes and consequences of Social Capital, American Journal of Political Science, 41, 3, 999-1023.

• Bromley, C., Curtice, J., Seyd, B. (2001), Political engagement, trust and constitutional reform, in Park, A., Curtice, J., Thomson, K., Jarvis, L. and Bromley, C. (eds) British Social Attitudes: the 18th Report – Public policy, Social ties, London, Sage.

• Coffé, H., Geys, B. (2005), Institutional Performance and Social Capital: an Application to the Local Govrnment Level, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Department of Political Science.

• Couto, A.G., Guthrie, C.S. (1999), Making Democracy Work Better: Mediating Structures, Social Capital, and the Democratic Prospect, University of North Carolina Press.

• Cusack, T.R. (1997), Social Capital, Institutional Structures and Democratic Performance: a Comparative Study of German Local Governemnts, Discussion Paper FS III 97-201, Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung (WZB).

• De Rosa, R. (2004), La funzione del capitale sociale nelle organizzazioni di partito, Libera Università Maria SS. Assunta di Roma, mimeo.

• Evans, P. (1996), Government Action, Social Capital and Development: Reviewing the Evidence on Synergy, World Development, 24(6), 1119-1132.

• Gay, C. (2002), Spirals of Trust: The Effect of Descriptive Representation on the Relationship between Citizens and Their Government, American Journal of Political Science 46 (Oct):717-733.

• Golden, M.A. (2003), Electoral Connections: The Effects of the Personal Vote on Political Patronage, Bureaucracy and Legislation in Postwar Italy, British Journal of Political Science (2003), 33:189-212.

• Hayoz, N., Sergeyev, V. (2003), Social networks in Russian politics, in Social Capital and the Transition to Democracy, Badescu, G. Uslaner, E. London: Routledge, 46-60.

• Heliwell, J.F. (1994), Empirical Linkages Between Democracy And Economic Growth, NBER Working Paper, 4066, National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, Ma.

• Keele, L. (2004), Social Capital, Government Performance, and the Dynamics of Trust in Government, Department of Politics and International Relations Nuffield College and Oxford University, Unpublished Paper.

• Kingston, C. (2005), Social Capital and Corruption: Theory, and Evidence from India, BREAD Working Paper No. 75.

• La Porta, R., Lopez de Silanes, F., Schleifer, A., Vishny, R. (1998), The Quality of Government, NBER Working Paper no. 6727, Cambridge, MA, National Bureau of Economic Research.

• Lara, N. (2005), Capital social, partidos polìticos y abstenciòn electoral. Perfil del abstencionista desde la óptica del capital social, Ergatorre Libros, Madrid.

• Milner, H. (2002), Civic Literacy: How Informed Citizens Make Democracy Work, Lebanon, University Press of New England.

• Milner, H., Erson, S. (2000), Social Capital, Civic Engagement and Institutional Performance in Sweden: An Analysis of the Swedish Regions, Paper prepared for the ECPR Joint Sessions of Workshops, University of Copenhagen, 14-19 April 2000.

• Mutti, A. (2000), Particularism and the Modernization Process in Southern Italy, International Sociology, Vol. 15, No. 4, 579-590.

• Newton, K. (2001), Social Trust and Political Disaffection: Social Capital and Democracy, Paper prepared for the EURESCO Conference on Social Capital: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, Exeter, 15-20 September 2001.

• Paxton, P. (2002), Social Capital and Democracy: An Interdependent Relationship, American Sociological Review, Vol. 67, No. 2 (Apr., 2002) , pp. 254-277.

• Phillpot, R. (2002), Provincial performance and social capital in Papua New Guinea, National Centre for Development Studies, The Australian National University, Development Bulletin No. 60.

• Sabatini, F. (2005), Social Capital, Public Spending and the Quality of Economic Development, University of Rome La Sapienza, Department of Public Economics. Paper accepted for presentation at the COE/JEPA (Center of Excellence / Japan Economic Policy Association) Joint International Conference, "Towards a New Economic Paradigm", Kobe, Japan, 17-18 December 2005.

• Seligson, A.L. (1999), Civic Association And Democratic Participation In Central America: A Test of the Putnam Thesis, Comparative Political Studies, Vol. 32, No. 3, 342-362 (1999).

• Sides, J. (1999), It Takes Two: The Reciprocal Relationship between Social Capital and Democracy, Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Atlanta, September 2-5.

• Schollaert, A., Van de Gaer, D. (2005), Boycotts, power politics or trust building: how to prevent conflict?, Working Paper, Universiteit Gent, Faculteit Economie en Bedrijfskunde.

• Scholz, J.T. (2000), Trust, Taxes, and Compliance, in Braithwaite, V., Levi, M. (eds), Trust and Governance, New York, Russell Sage.

• Uslaner, E. (2003), Trust and Social Bonds: Faith in Others and Policy Outcomes Reconsidered, forthcoming in in Political Research Quarterly 2004 (v. 57).

• Van Deth, J.W. (2001), The Proof of the Pudding: Social Capital, Democracy, and Citizenship, Paper prepared for the EURESCO Conference on Social Capital: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, Exeter, 15-20 September 2001.

• Wallis, J., Dollery, B. (2002), Social Capital and Local Government Capacity, Australian Journal of Public Administration, Vol. 61, Issue 3, 76, September 2002.

• Walston, J. (1988), The Mafia and clientelism : roads to Rome in post-war Calabria, London and New York, Routledge.

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