How does civil society thicken? The political construction of social capital in rural Mexico

The growth of the building-block organizations of an autonomous civil society in an authoritarian environment depends on the ''political construction'' of social capital. Social capital can be coproduced by state and local societal actors or by the interaction of local societal actors and external actors in civil society. Social capital may also be produced from below, but external allies still turn out to be crucial in the ability of such organizations to survive. An examination of variety in political dynamics across different regions and over time in rural Mexico provides ample illustration of these general points. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd