Trust, Confidence And Social Capital In The Democratization Process Of Eastern Countries

Abstract

Current theories on the Eastern European Countries support the idea that the governments produce democracy (Choen, 1997, Levi, 1998, 1999; Offe, 1999, Rothnstein, 2001). While some authors show a failure to find correlation between aggregate measures of social capital and democratization level (Dowley, Silver, 2001), others give evidence that distrust for politician or parties is a peculiarity of many eastern countries (Schmitter, 1994). Using the European and World Values Studies (1995-1997) and considering six Eastern countries (Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Slovenia), we analyzed, with a model of structural equation, the impact of social trust, social capital, democracy support, and other socio-demographic variables on the level of democratization (Free House, 1997).