Making Democracy Work

by Putnam, Robert D.; Leonardi, Robert; Nanetti, Raffaella

• ISBN13: 9780691037387
• ISBN10: 0691037388
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1994-05-27
• Publisher: Ingram Pub Services

Summary

Why do some democratic governments succeed and others fail? In a book that has received attention from policymakers and civic activists in America and around the world, Robert Putnam and his collaborators offer empirical evidence for the importance of "civic community" in developing successful institutions. Their focus is on a unique experiment begun in 1970 when Italy created new governments for each of its regions. After spending two decades analyzing the efficacy of these governments in such fields as agriculture, housing, and health services, they reveal patterns of associationism, trust, and cooperation that facilitate good governance and economic prosperity.

Table of Contents

List of Figures
List of Tables
Preface
Introduction: Studying Institutional Performance	p. 3
A Voyage of Inquiry	p. 3
Charting the Voyage	p. 7
Methods of Inquiry	p. 12
Changing the Rules: Two Decades of Institutional Development	p. 17
Creating Regional Government	p. 18
The Regional Political Elite: "A New Way of Doing Politics"	p. 26
The Deepening of Regional Autonomy	p. 38
Putting Down Roots: The Region and its Constituents	p. 47
Measuring Institutional Performance	p. 63
Twelve Indicators of Institutional Performance	p. 65
Coherence and Reliability of the Index of Institutional Performance	p. 73
Institutional Performance and Constituency Evaluations	p. 76
Explaining Institutional Performance	p. 83
Socioeconomic Modernity	p. 83
The Civic Community: Some Theoretical Speculations	p. 86
The Civic Community: Testing the Theory	p. 91
Social and Political Life in the Civic Community	p. 99
Other Explanations for Institutional Success?	p. 116
Tracing the Roots of the Civic Community	p. 121
The Civic Legacies of Medieval Italy	p. 121
Civic Traditions After Unification	p. 137
Measuring the Durability of Civic Traditions	p. 148
Economic Development and Civic Traditions	p. 152
Social Capital and Institutional Success	p. 163
Dilemmas of Collective Action	p. 163
Social Capital, Trust, and Rotating Credit Associations	p. 167
Norms of Reciprocity and Networks of Civic Engagement	p. 171
History and Institutional Performance: Two Social Equilibria	p. 177
Lessons from the Italian Regional Experiment	p. 181
Appendix A: Research Methods	p. 187
Appendix B: Statistical Evidence on Attitude Change among Regional Councilors	p. 193
Appendix C: Institutional Performance (1978-1985)	p. 198
Appendix D: Regional Abbreviations Used in Scattergrams	p. 200
Appendix E: Local Government Performance (1982-1986) and Regional Government Performance (1978-1985)	p. 201
Appendix F: Traditions of Civic Involvement (1860-1920)	p. 205
Notes	p. 207
Index	p. 249
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.