Social Capital and its Determinants in the Arab Region

The literature on the determinants of social capital on Western societies focuses on theories that fit their realities. There are few studies that investigate the determinants of social capital in different environments, including in non-democratic regimes. This study aims to fill this gap by studying these determinants in Arab countries. This study employs a Logit Model and uses the Arab Opinion Index data published by the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies. The study makes several conclusions, the most important of which are that the determinants affecting social capital are political confidence (expressed through respondents' assessment of institutional performance), language, age group, and income. The results of this study reinforced the results of previous work that found that low levels of public confidence may promote the emergence of a democracy-supporting bloc within Arab societies. However, there is a need to better understand how determinants interact with and impact public confidence.

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The literature on the determinants of social capital on Western societies focuses on theories that fit their realities. There are few studies that investigate the determinants of social capital in different environments, including in non-democratic regimes. This study aims to fill this gap by studying these determinants in Arab countries. This study employs a Logit Model and uses the Arab Opinion Index data published by the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies. The study makes several conclusions, the most important of which are that the determinants affecting social capital are political confidence (expressed through respondents' assessment of institutional performance), language, age group, and income. The results of this study reinforced the results of previous work that found that low levels of public confidence may promote the emergence of a democracy-supporting bloc within Arab societies. However, there is a need to better understand how determinants interact with and impact public confidence.

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