Building Domestic Social Capital Transnationally: Democracy Assistance to Civic Organizations in Latin America.

This paper explores the broader theoretical claim that civil society can be thickened (in democratic ways) with international support and collaboration. Case studies of domestic election monitoring organizations in Mexico, Nicaragua and Peru suggest that internationally supported civic organizations can play an important role in mobilizing political participation. There is less evidence to show that they can consistently fulfill other democratizing functions, such as modeling democratic practices and improving communication between government and citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]