Promoting Institutional Change in Post-Soviet Armenia: Is Social Capital the 'Missing Link'?
Babken V. Babajanian
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Abstract
This paper argues that the social capital framework used by development agencies in community-driven development policies and projects is not adequate for analysing conditions affecting participation. Instead, it proposes a framework for analysing co-operation. The research in Armenia shows that the availability of social capital in a community may not necessarily translate into community participation. The governance environment plays a key role in affecting the nature and forms of community participation and in shaping local institutions in Armenia. This implies that development interventions that focus on building social capital as a means to institutionalise participation may not be effective without addressing broader structural factors affecting participation.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Professor Jane Falkingham for her invaluable support during this research. I am grateful to Professor Jude Howell for her comments on the final draft. This work would not have been possible without the individuals in the Armenian communities who generously spent their valuable time with me and shared their experiences, views and life stories.
About the author
Dr Babken V. Babajanian is an ESRC fellow at the Department of Social Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science. His interests include international and comparative dimensions of social policy, poverty reduction strategies, governance, social exclusion, community development and civil society. He has conducted research in the Caucasus and Central Asia and consulted extensively for the World Bank and the UK Department of International Development (DFID).