Linking indigenous bonding and bridging social capital

Abstract

O'Brien D. J., Phillips J. L. and Patsiorkovsky V. V. (2005) Linking indigenous bonding and bridging social capital, Regional Studies 39 , 1041–1051. Reconciling indigenous bonding and bridging social capital remains a difficult issue in economic development and global issues of inequality. A failure to address this problem weakens the legitimacy of liberal democratic political institutions. Mancur Olson's Logic of Collective Action (1971) is used as the starting point to identify the structural properties of bridging social capital, and the broad parameters within which strategies for using indigenous social capital to create these properties may be found. Empirical examples from the authors’ research are used to illustrate alternative ways and the costs and benefits of different strategies for linking indigenous bonding and bridging social capital.