Democracy and social capital social in Rio Grande do Sul

Abstract

This article aims to identify the societal conditions which can promote democracy in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. We discuss concepts of democracy within Putnam’s social capital framework (2000). Our hypothesis is that there is a strong association between social capital and democracy, in other words, that the existing stocks of social capital in a society positively influence trust in the democratic regime and its institutions. In this vein, we initially present a brief discussion of the potential of democracy as a political regime, taking dimensions of political culture and social capital into account. We then go on to analyze survey data from two regions of the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul- COREDE Vale do Rio dos Sinos and COREDE Northeast – to provide support for the arguments we have made. Keywords: democracy, social capital, Rio Grande do Sul.