Development and Not Just Growth

We turn now our attention to a second debate in scholarly and policymaking circles that in the last few decades has paralleled the debate on the nature of social capital. It is the debate about what constitutes the nature of improvements in the quality of life of territorial communities. The incremental recognition of social capital as a constructible community asset that improves institutional performance and produces output and outcome results in diverse policy sectors has contributed to expand this debate on what constitutes community growth and, at the same time, to orientate the focus of the debate on how to achieve it. Indeed, the affirmation of the concept of social capital has been in line with the evolution of the political, economic, and social thinking that in this phase of globalization has been raising critical issues concerning the failed challenge of improving the quality of life of people in differing territorial communities through growth- oriented policies. The criticism has been sustained, particularly in the face of the increasing economic disparities and social inequalities that have become the trend across communities as well as the trait within communities. Consequently, in addition to the analysis of the causes of these negative results, questions have been raised by those who critique the characteristics of the ongoing process of globalization about the types of policies that ought to be adopted to respond to the challenge of decreasing such disparities and inequalities.