Social capital and participatory management in the Pátzcuaro basin

Setting out from a survey of the theoretical postulates of social capital, the present paper analyses the utility and scope of this approach for generating solutions that can reverse environmentally harmful processes by activating and empowering existing social capital in different communities and social groups. For this purpose, it takes the socio-environmental situation in the Lake Pátzcuaro basin as its empirical referent and explores the social and political developments now holding out the promise of a revival of social capital in the area, the processes whereby significant changes might be triggered as a result of social capital, and the potential and limitations of what an outside agency can achieve.