Much of the work done since Robert Putnam’s original study has suggested that civic community and social capital sustain civil society and democracy. They have also been connected with high levels of confidence in government (Putnam, 1993; 2000; Brehm and Rahn, 1997). Alberta’s history is rich with examples of collective action such as farmers’ cooperatives and political activism. Alberta scores high on empirical measures of civic community, such as voluntarism, civic participation, solidarity and interpersonal trust. At the same time, Albertans’ involvement in formal politics, measured by their propensity to vote, is generally lower than the Canadian average. Albertans’ attitudes to government, particularly the federal government, are notoriously negative. In order to reconcile these aspects of Alberta’s political culture, we investigate the underlying socio-political and historical factors that contribute to Alberta’s strong civic community by determining how its social capital has been built and how it is currently sustained. 1

Acknowledgments: The 1998 Alberta Civil Society Survey was made possible by a grant from the Donner Foundation. The authors thank the JOURNAL’S reviewers for their helpful comments.