Abstract
The accession in May 2004 of eight countries from Eastern Europe to the European Union and the future membership of Romania and Bulgaria in 2007 tends to show the importance, for these post-communist states, to find a new order and to gain more stability and security. Indeed, the end of the Cold War liberates Eastern and Central Europe from communism, but the road to efficient democracy is still long. Membership of the European Union or NATO seems to be a fundamental element for the stabilization process. Nonetheless, external aid (money, settlement of non-governmental organisations…) is not enough and some scholars believe in a more bottom-up way to build democracy. Such is the case with Robert Putnam, who underlined in his works the importance of a civil community (or social capital) capable of developing and strengthening institutions and consequently of building democracy. After explaining the theory of Putnam more in depth, we will discuss if he is right in saying that a sufficient stock of social capital is necessary for the success of democracy when it applies to Eastern Europe.
