Resumen
The concept of ?social capital? has been one of the mostly discussed topics in the field of social sciences. Putnam (1993: 167) perceived social capital as the most important element for improving the ?efficiency of society by facilitating coordinated actions, and the notion of ?trust? is one of the defining features of social capital. In his study, Putnam (1993) was able to demonstrate that the different stocks of social capital can better explain the variations in the level of performance among Italian local governments. It can be argued that ?trust? is an important ingredient in the process of governance.