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Abstract
Theoretical debate on the relationship between the quality of government, social capital and corruption remains underspecified in relation to the analysis of local governance. This paper asks how quality of government (QoG) impacts on the role of social capital (SC), and how SC connects with corruption in the local governance context. The paper develops a local governance approach in order to better understand this relationship through an in-depth qualitative case-study of the governance of Batkhela Bazaar in Malakand District of Pakistan. Three findings emerge: Firstly, the results demonstrate how QoG and socioeconomic inequalities shape the context for SC development and its role in corruption, which feeds into the poor QoG. Secondly, unlike the existing mainstream literature, the results show the fundamental importance of petty corruption to levels of trust within a society. Thirdly, reciprocity plays a crucial role in maintaining trusting ties in the context of ineffective formal institutions.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Fine (Citation2003, pp. 586–587) criticizes SC scholarship on the ground that it usually neglects how SC is created. Taking this criticism seriously, this paper develops a more localized understanding of the determinants and outcomes of SC for local governance (see also Harriss, Citation2001).
2 The literature on SC in Pakistan is underdeveloped (for exceptions see Mohmand, Citation2008; Khan, Citation2019) and on trust, remains at an embryonic stage (Acemoglu et al., Citation2018; Jackson et al., Citation2014). Cross-national comparisons on trust often do not include Pakistan due to missing data on key variables of the World Value Survey (Uslaner, Citation2010).
3 For an exception see Rothstein and Stolle (Citation2001).
4 I thank the anonymous reviewer for this point.
5 See https://tradingeconomics.com (Pakistan).
6 Peshawar is the capital of Khyber Pukhtunkhwa province, located 78 km from Batkhela.
7 This survey was conducted as a part of the author’s PhD to identify major trends on the embeddedness of marketplace governance within the broader governance structure; however, its findings are not reported in this paper due to their relevance to the subject under consideration.
8 These contrasting responses on interpersonal trust and trust in government’s fairness are drawn from interviewees’ evaluation of their experiences with state institutions and their experiences of reliance on personal ties.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Muhammad Salman Khan
Dr Muhammad Salman Khan is a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Enterprise and Economic Development Research, Middlesex University London.