Recent movement toward more comprehensive institutional perspectives on development has been stimulated by two distinct challenges to narrow development theories. Theorists of "social capital" have highlighted the degree to which norms of trust and the interpersonal networks on which they are based constitute economic assets. Revisionist theories of the "East Asian Miracle" have emphasized the central role of public institutions in capitalist development. The introduction and the articles that follow attempt to bring these two disparate traditions together by examining the potentially positive role of relations which join state and civil society in shared developmental projects. The five studies presented in this volume draw on the experience of a range of countries, including Russia, China, Mexico, Brazil, Taiwan, and India. In combination, they provide a powerful case for the proposition that active governments and mobilized communities can enhance each other's developmental efforts and enerate "state-society synergy".