Social Capital and Local Development - the Cases of Leksand and Rättvik
by Karin Tillberg Mattsson and Susanne Stenbacka, Forskningsrapport/Research Report 2004:2

This study focuses on how volunteer networks surrounding sports and musical activities in two neighbouring municipalities in Sweden, Leksand and Rättvik, are related to rural development processes. The longstanding traditions of voluntary participation in the area serve to constantly recreate social relationships and allow for the possibility of parallel economic development activities.

The meaning of social capital in local development is discussed in terms of networks and links inside and between primarily the municipal sector and the voluntary sector. Connections to the local business sector are harder to find - but the borders between the public and private sector are sometimes blurred; local business and development institutions can be organised as half public and half private companies. It could be said that volunteer engagement in civil society creates platforms, which are then in turn used by local entrepreneurs. Ice hockey in Leksand, the organization of the open air concerts in Dalhalla and the trotting in Rättvik are examples of that.

The role of the municipal authorities in local development is mostly directed towards the local business sector and not to the voluntary sector; the associations in the latter are not seen as economic actors. The promotion work by the municipal authorities is thus focused on businesses and enterprises, including intense contacts with individual firms to convince them to move to the area. Concerning the voluntary sector, the municipal authorities see their role rather as "getting people to meet", to arrange a "breeding ground" for ideas and forms of cooperation. In this report we also highlight the importance of the direct economic outcomes of the activities within sports and culture.

Finally, local history and a continuously changing perception of what constitutes local identity play important roles in local development, both through the social life and the physical features like the nature, the cultural landscape and, specific features such as the symbolic significance of the lime-stone quarry that is now converted to the Dalhalla concert arena.

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