We enter into networks because we are social creatures with ingrained social habits and needs. By speaking of networking in the same breath as crony capitalism and corruption, one begins to pervert its meaning even before one begins to realize that this is what humans in all ages and in all times practically do. In the West, under the continued barrage of Enlightenment and individualism, it is easy to regard the ethos of community and bond-building as something foreign. Yet, this is a view that would stand in total contradiction to the West s oft-repeated claim to being a part of the Graeco civilization. Civil society in Asia is not necessarily composed of NGOs or groups to further collateral interests, but rather relies on ethnic, cultural and other networks.
Relationships are the underpinnings that hold the separate elements of civil society together.
But social capital is not likely to increase if networking is rendered into an odious term. It is only when people network their way to power without going through proper channels and procedures that accusations of nepotism and corruption are due. This article was first published in the Winter 1998 issue of Harvard Asia Quarterly.