The idea of social capital allows scholars to assess the quality of relationships among people within a particular community and show how that quality affects the ability to achieve shared goals. With evidence collected from 69 villages in India, Krishna investigates what social capital is, how it operates in practice, and what results it can be expected to produce.

The idea of social capital allows scholars to assess the quality of relationships among people within a particular community and show how that quality affects the ability to achieve shared goals. With evidence collected from sixty-nine villages in India, Krishna investigates what social capital is, how it operates in practice, and what results it can be expected to produce.

Does social capital provide a viable means for advancing economic development, promoting ethnic peace, and strengthening democratic governance? The world is richer than ever before, but more than a fifth of its people are poor and miserable. Civil wars and ethnic strife continue to mar prospects for peace. Democracy is in place in most countries, but large numbers of citizens do not benefit from it. How can development, peace and democracy become more fruitful for the ordinary citizen? This book shows how social capital is a crucial dimension of any solution to these problems.

Anirudh Krishna is professor at the Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy at Duke University

Amita Shastri:
Active Social Capital: Tracing the Roots of Development and Democracy is an outstanding piece of scholarship. It deftly and lucidly combines a discussion of the theoretical issues, newly gathered quantitative data, and qualitative case studies to detail the impact that active social capital has on the substantive outcomes attained in the economic, social, and political realms at the village level.

James Midgley:
Krishna makes commendable use of theory to frame his study and his contribution to testing social capital's key propositions is significant... Krishna's book translates the concept of social capital into a set of practical propositions that have direct relevance for those concerned with improving the welfare of communities... [and is] a helpful resource for those who want to know how to mobilize the strength, cooperative actions and capacities of communities today.