Italy's past lives on, decisively, in its present. Putnam argues that economic development does not explain political development. Civicness' is what matters. Where it exists, everything is possible. Where it does not, nothing is.
Social capital is far harder to accumulate than physical capital.
The implications of this book are enormous. Western policy-makers will wish to identify which former communist states already possess the necessary 'norms and networks of social engagement' and which do not. You can give a rating to this scheme overall. Click 0-10 below and press the Submit button.