Running Together, Ruling Together: How Social Capital from Voluntary Associations Affects Coalition Formation

The research on social capital attained in voluntary associations has resulted in many studies linking social capital and political participation. However, many facets of political participation are partisan in nature and therefore may imply only a mobilization of a clique. On the other hand, according to the social network theory, cross-cutting ties between voluntary associations and political parties should facilitate cooperation between different parties as suggested by e.g. Putnam. Therefore, I investigate coalition formation in the Czech municipalities. In contrast to previous studies, I do not use survey data which cannot provide information overlapping membership of political parties and voluntary associations. Instead, I use official records including the 2014 and 2018 municipal elections candidate lists, membership data of the Football Association of the Czech Republic (the largest voluntary association in the country), and the composition of municipal coalition acquired from the data of the Ministry of Justice. All of the datasets were subsequently merged using record linkage methods. The exponential random graph models show that coalition is more likely to be formed by a dyad of political parties if both of them include an elected deputy who is a member of a local football club.