Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy (ISBN 978-0691078892) is a 1993 book written by Robert Putnam

Robert Putnam

Robert David Putnam is a political scientist and professor of public policy at the Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government. He is also visiting professor and director of the Manchester Graduate Summer Programme in Social Change, University of Manchester...

 (with Robert Leonardi and Raffaella Y. Nanetti). Published by Princeton University Press

Princeton University Press

-Further reading:* "". Artforum International, 2005.-External links:* * * * *...

, the book's central thesis is that social capital

Social capital

Social capital is a sociological concept, which refers to connections within and between social networks. The concept of social capital highlights the value of social relations and the role of cooperation and confidence to get collective or economic results. The term social capital is frequently...

 is key to high institutional performance and the maintenance of democracy

Democracy

Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...

. The authors studied the performance of twenty regional Italian governments

Regions of Italy

The regions of Italy are the first-level administrative divisions of the state, constituting its first NUTS administrative level. There are twenty regions, of which five are constitutionally given a broader amount of autonomy granted by special statutes....

since 1970, which were similar institutions but differed in their social, economic and cultural context. They found that regional government performed best, holding other factors constant, where there were strong traditions of civic engagement.