ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the emergence of a vibrant neighborhood association sector in the Kathmandu metropolitan area and its role in generating forms of social capital and civic space that could enhance urban governance. In Nepal a formal legislative and institutional framework was recently formulated (with considerable donor promotion) in order to foster public participation in local governance. The expectation has been that neighborhood associations could contribute to the democratic and accountable governance of cities, even if they are not part of the formal state apparatus. In order to assess this proposition, we suggest that it is necessary to examine the nature of civic space and social capital associated with this kind of civil society activity; our objective is thus to consider progressive and regressive forms of social capital and civic space that are generated by and constitutive of neighborhood associations, in relation to the wider politicaleconomic and cultural-political context for urban governance in Nepal. We find that civic space is crucial for consolidating bonding forms of social capital in particular neighborhoods but caution against the exclusions and reproduction of existing social cleavages that so often transpire within it.
