Social Capital and Local Governance: Exploring the Institutional Design Variable

Vivien Lowndes and David Wilson

Political Studies, 2001, vol. 49, issue 4, 629-647

Abstract: This article argues that Robert Putnam's social capital thesis is too society‐centred and undervalues state agency and associated political factors. It explores the role of institutional design in explaining how governments can shape the development of social capital and its potential influence upon democratic performance. New Labour's programme of ‘democratic renewal’ within British local government provides an excellent opportunity to assess the relevance of institutional design to arguments about social capital and democracy. We propose that prospects for the creation and mobilization of social capital may depend as much upon the process as the content of institutional design.

Date: 2001
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (26)

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9248.00334

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:polstu:v:49:y:2001:i:4:p:629-647

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.blackwell ... bs.asp?ref=0032-3217

Access Statistics for this article

Political Studies is currently edited by Matthew Festenstein and Martin Smith

More articles in Political Studies from Political Studies Association
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().