An Investigation of the Effect of Markazi Province NGOs’ Social Capital on Democracy

One of the key factors that influences democracy is social capital. The current study seeks to investigate the effect of social capital of Non-Governmental Organizations of Markazi province in Iran on democracy. The intended indicators of social capital are social trust, participation, and cohesion. To this end, the theories of Putnam, Coleman, and Fukuyama have been used. In addition, data collection was done through survey (using a questionnaire) and document analysis (using books and articles). Then, using Amos software and structural equation modeling, confirmatory factor analysis was performed, while the descriptive statistics were obtained using SPSS software. The Cronbach's alpha for 22 items was found to be 0.929, which is an acceptable rate of reliability. The statistical population included the members of Markazi province NGOs (1304 individuals), out of which a sample of 384 participants was selected using stratified random sampling based on the Cochran formula. The findings of the study revealed that the social capital of Markazi province NGOs has a positive and significant effect on democracy. It plays an important role in realizing the socio-cultural forefront of the Revolution, creating democratic institutions and developing a civil society, and synergizing all capacities to organize the political objectives of Iran, fight enemies, and face challenges ahead. NGOs should attract and use talented and young individuals to reach their goals. They should also have mutual relationships with various networks, organizations, governmental organizations, and different layers of people.