ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on shifts in relations between trust networks and public politics. It looks at substantial integration of existing trust networks into public politics, notably as Catholics become organized political actors. The chapter discusses creation of new politically connected trust networks as the Irish state takes on the sorts of social security programs widely adopted by Western states during the twentieth century. Like Ireland, Mexico fought its way to a relatively democratic regime through constant struggle, occasional civil war, and many a reversal. Nationally, Mexico installed some of the conventional democratic apparatus, such as formally competitive elections, political parties, and manhood suffrage, about the same time as many of its European counterparts. Surely connections between interpersonal trust networks and public politics strongly affect the viability of democratic institutions. Forment argues that the nineteenth-century activists created municipal democracy, but shielded it as much as possible from national intervention.
