Patterns of Social Capital: Stability and Change in Historical Perspective.(Book Review)

edited by Robert I. Rotberg. Cambridge, United Kingdom, Cambridge University Press, 2001. viii, 394 pp. $54.95 U.S. (cloth), $18.95 U.S. (paper).

In recent years, Robert D. Putnam has become one of the United States's most influential political scientists. His book on Italy, Making Democracy Work (1993), written with the assistance of Robert Leonardi and Raffaella Y. Nanetti, mainly argued two things. First, that there is something called "social capital," that is embodied in trust, norms, and horizontal networks of civic engagement and that fosters economic growth and effective public institutions. Second, that this "social capital" bas deep historical roots that can be traced back hundreds of years. After having applied this theory to the United States and having warned his readers that "America's social capital" is in decline, Putnam temporarily …