Social capital is a key concept in academic research and policymaking internationally It focuses attention on social relationships, values, and access to resources in families, communities, regions and nations But does the concept, with its focus on particular aspects of social life and the thrust of its influence on policy initiatives, hide more than it illuminates? Is it even harmful? Can social capital ideas be amended or adapted to bring other issues into view, or are there alternative concepts that are better able to address contemporary social, economic and political life? This edited collection brings together contributions, including from internationally renowned researchers, that assess social capital - as a theoretical concept, its shaping of policy development, and its practices in research and everyday life Some reveal the conceptual lacks and policy drawbacks of social capital, and put forward alternatives Others pursue mainstream models and their adaptation

background

Address by the Prime Minister of Japan

Assessing Social Capital: Concept, Policy and Practice

This paper argues that an economic liberal discourse of globalisation has been pivotal to the policy-making process in Australia over the past 15 or so years. Both Labor and Coalition Governments have aimed to restrict the electoral fall-out from the process of restructuring by persuading Australians that the world economy has forced particular policy changes and made alternative economic policy choices unviable. Policy-makers act to influence conceptions of the appropriate role and responsibilities of the state through persuasion - the rhetoric they speak - and coercion - the policies they make. The pervasiveness of globalisation rhetoric in the public sphere has been essential to the governing process as a complement to and buffer for the coercive impact of economic liberal policy changes. As Australia has shifted from a protectionist to an economically liberal policy structure, the effects of globalisation have become clearer. Liberalisation has intensified pressures from the world political economy and coerced changes in all areas of policy and the economy, as well as in public perceptions about the 'limits of government'. Globalisation and economic liberalism as persuasion and coercion are the component parts of a restructured system of political and economic governance: a paradigmatic shift away from the economic protectionism of the first 80 years of Australian federalism.

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Address by the Prime Minister of Japan

Citations

Assessing Social Capital: Concept, Policy and Practice

Globalisation and the Politics of Persuasion and Coercion

References

Assessing Social Capital: Concept, Policy and Practice

Globalisation and the Politics of Persuasion and Coercion

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