Social Capital and Good Governance

As described in the beginning of this paper, many beneficial influences of social capital have been pointed out in the literature. Most interesting to this research, however, is if and how the stock of social capital could have an impact on good governance and democracy.

Investigating the social conditions that foster Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville, one of the renowned forefathers of the concept of social capital, emphasizes the beneficial relation between social capital formed in civic associations and the stability of democracy:

“Americans of all ages, conditions, and all dispositions constantly unite together. … If they wish to highlight a truth or develop an opinion by the encouragement of a great example, they form an association. … Thus the most democratic country in the world is that in which men have in our time perfected the art of pursuing in concert the aim of their common desires and have applied this new technique to the greatest number of objectives” (Democracy in America, p. 596).

In line with him, John Stuart Mill also emphasizes the importance of social organization and civic participation for the conduct of good governance. For him good governance is greatly

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determined by society and the “good qualities” of its members (Representative Government, p.

209). Accordingly, this leads him to argue that:

“If we ask ourselves on what causes and conditions good government in all its senses, from the humblest to the most exalted, depends, we find that the principal of them, the one which transcends all others, is the qualities of human beings composing the society over which government is exercised”

(Representative Government, p. 206).

To further emphasize the monitoring function of society toward the “influence of defects” in the conduct of governance (Representative Government, p. 207), he explains:

“Government consists of acts done by human beings; and if the agents, or those who chose the agents, or those to whom the agents are responsible … are mere masses of ignorance, stupidity, and baleful prejudice, every operation of government will go wrong; while, in proportion as the men rise above this standard, so will the government improve in quality; up to the point of excellence, attainable but nowhere attained, WHERE THE OFFICERS OF GOVERNMENT … ARE SURROUNDED BY THE ATMOSPHERE OF A VIRTUOUS AND ENLIGHTENED PUBLIC OPINION” (Representative Government, p. 207, emphasis added). ¹⁰

Building upon these classical foundations, more recent approaches point out internal and external benefits of social capital, which could be linked with governance.

At the internal or individual level, dense networks of social interactions are seen to

“instill in their members habits of cooperation and public-spiritedness, as well as the practical skills necessary to partake in public life” (Putnam 2000: 358). Members not only learn to speak in public or write letters emphasizing their demands but also to run meetings, organize projects and debate public issues. Consequently, members of voluntary organizations have been found to display more political sophistication, political participation and civic competence (Almond and Verba 1963: chapter 11). In a next step, these individual social and

10 Mill, however, also realizes that there is a reciprocal relationship between an active citizenry and their governments. For example, he writes that: “A community can only be developed out of one of these states into a higher by a concourse of influences, among the principal of which is the government to which they are subject”

(Representative Government, p. 212). And in the same manner he realizes that: “… the most important point of excellence which any form of government can possess is to promote the virtue and intelligence of the people themselves. The first question in respect to any political institution is, how far they tend to foster in the members of the community the various desirable qualities … moral, intellectual and active. The government which does this the best has every likelihood of being the best in all other respects, since it is on these qualities, so far as they exist in the people, that all possibility of goodness in the practical operations of the government depends” (Representative Government, p. 207-208). The statistical analysis conducted at a later point of this paper will control for this reciprocal relationship.

civic skills can be linked to the societal level and to the possible political consequences of social capital.

Externally, social capital enables citizens to overcome their collective action problems and allows them to react in concert to issues concerning their governments. Just as Weingart (1997: 261) points out:

“It is elites who choose whether to construct pacts, initiate democratization, violate citizen rights, and implement public policies. … In a society that has resolved its coordination problems, citizens hold the power to threaten political elites with loss of power if they violate agreed limits of government.”

Similarly, social capital flowing from voluntary organizations is said to allow individuals to not only form an opinion but also to articulate it in a more coherent way (Newton 2001;

Putnam 1993, 2000). Thus, enabling people to express their interest and demands on government more clearly and strongly, social capital can be viewed as an important control mechanism on the accountability of political processes:

“When an opinion is represented by an association, it has to assume a sharper and more accurate expression. It counts up its supporters and involves them in its cause; these supporters learn to know each other and their enthusiasm is increased by their numbers. Association binds the efforts of disparate minds and energetically drives them toward one single goal which it has clearly marked out”

(de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, p. 220-221).

Additionally, communication and information flowing through social networks as well as organizational skills provided by them could contribute to an increased leverage of society vis-à-vis the state. Here it is argued that voluntary organizations enhance the self-sufficiency and autonomy of society by providing collective goods and services not only for their members but also for the rest of society (Coleman 1990; Offe and Fuchs 2002).

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Doing so, they ensure that “state-citizen relations will be [less likely] to be deformed into inherently authoritarian relationships of dependency, paternalism, and clientelism” (Offe and Fuchs 2002: 235).¹¹

In sum, it can be argued that in societies with rich social capital, “watchful citizens”

are likely to hold elected officials accountable for their actions, and that these leaders, in turn, are more likely to believe that their acts will be monitored (Norris 2002: 139).