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Does social capital provide a viable means for advancing economic development, promoting ethnic peace, and strengthening democratic governance? This question has particular importance for our times. The world is richer than ever before, but more than a fifth of its people are poor and miserable. The Cold War is over, but civil wars and ethnic strife continue to mar the prospects for peace. Democracy is in place in most countries, but large numbers of citizens cannot avail themselves of its benefits. Something more needs to be done for making development, peace and democracy more fruitful for the ordinary citizen, and building social capital is thought to constitute a promising line of action. Social capital represents a propensity for mutually beneficial collective action, and it derives from the quality of relationships among people within a particular group or community. Communities with high social capital will …