Civil Society, Political Capital, and Democratization in Central America
Author(s)
Booth, John A.; Richard, Patricia Bayer
Abstract
This article demonstrates how civil society shapes government performance. It demonstrates how group participation might impinge upon the state through the “political capital” of political participation and democratic norms. The authors find that while higher levels of formal group membership and several political capital measures associated with higher levels of democracy, social capital lacks the relationship Putman predicts. They conclude that political rather than social capital links formal group activism to democracy in Central America.
