Conflicting views of the value of social (and unsocial) capital for democratic performance and overall support for democratic institutions in plural societies are particularly relevant to the study of politics in East-Central and post-Soviet Europe. With the history of the region replete with examples of ethnic mobilisation and its devastating consequences present even today in the former Yugoslavia and Chechnya, a thorough examination of the propositions suggested above seems warranted. The usual measures of social capital seem problematic in plural societies, especially ones undergoing rapid political transitions. The release of data from the 1995-98 World Values Survey, which includes a large number of countries from the post-communist space, provides an opportunity to explore the nature and consequences of social capital in this region. The countries vary enough in the quality and completeness of their democratic transitions to allow us to make some preliminary observations. First, do the usual markers of social capital (interpersonal trust, political interest and voluntary group participation) correlate with the most and least successful cases of democratisation in East-Central Europe and the post-Soviet states? Are the countries with the highest overall levels of apparent social capital the most democratic? Are they the countries in which individuals report the highest levels of satisfaction with democratic institutions (one of Putnam's measures of institutional performance)? Are they the same countries as those in which respondents are most confident in democracy? Second, are the effects the same when one takes into account the ethnic diversity of the country? Does social capital function in the same manner in plural countries, or are the usual markers instead more likely to indicate dangerous polarisation in that society instead of social engagement that keeps democracy healthy and strong? These are the questions this article seeks to answer by analysing the latest round of surveys from the World Values Survey project.
