Making Democracy Work

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Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy is a 1994 book written by Robert Putnam (with Robert Leonardi and Raffaella y. Nanetti). Published by Princeton University Press, the book's central thesis is that social capital is key to high institutional performance and the maintenance of democracy. The authors studied the performance of twenty regional Italian governments since 1970, which were similar institutions but differed in their social, economic and cultural context. They found that regional government preformed best, holding other factors constant, where there were strong traditions of civic engagement.