Die Qualitat von demokratischen Regimen - Zur Erklarung der politischen Performanz in Italien und Indien durch Robert Putnam und Patrick Heller

In: Politische Vierteljahresschrift: PVS : German political science quarterly, Band 43, Heft 2, S. 302-329

Abstract

Many states with democratic regimes developed through long processes of democratization. A precise examination of conditions for the quality of these democracies is needed. In this article two theoretical perspectives are compared: Robert Putnam's attempt to explain political performance in Italian regions through their strength of the civil society & their social capital, & Patrick Heller's study regarding the Indian state of Kerala, which emphasizes the significance of mobilization & organization of lower social classes as well as a functioning state apparatus. The explorative empirical analysis of determinants of social development of the 15 largest Indian states & further studies in political sociology indicate a greater plausibility of Heller's explanation. Putnam's core concepts of social capital & civil society are reconstructed in a concluding theoretical discussion to facilitate a connection to Heller's theses & other fields of research in the social sciences. 2 Tables, 3 Diagrams, 74 References. Adapted from the source document.