The paper deals with the political consequences of the globalization process. It is not clear yet whether this trend is bringing about a structural change in the economy, but it certainly raises new questions on the role of politics. Since the seventies, the decline of the "fordist" organisation...

Social capital is formed by a special category of social relations, in which durable mutual identification of the participants, reiteration, and some form of reciprocity or trust are possible. Exchange relationships do not generate social capital except when the quality of the commodities is not...