Resilience of Social Capital Networks: Collapse and Transformation, 1991–2012

We evaluate the functioning of clan, individual, and neighborhood social networks and their transformation. The stock-sharing criteria in clan social capital networks are based on household wealth. Restocking of the poor occurs in three stages. In the first stage, the responsibility lies with people who share genealogical relationships. In the second, the fault lies with close clans, and the third stage is the responsibility of clan members across the Ethiopian frontier. Between the drought of 1991/92 and the recovery period until 1996, only 40 percent of clans attempted to participate in social capital networks, while the remaining 60 percent failed. Only 10 percent of clan networks were successful. Participation in clan social capital networks could have been much better at individual household levels. The personal networks involved in sharing milk animals with friends and relatives were also unsuccessful. The Obbu Borana responded by establishing neighborhood social capital networks—a progressive transformation. The newly created neighborhood networks transact through public monetary contributions. Individuals use modern communication systems to reach potential contributors in the transformed social capital networks. Assistance is in terms of cash. Cash amounts raised through public participation are much more substantial than achievable under the clan system. The new neighborhood social capital network is self-reinforcing and self-regulating. Accordingly, success is in collective action by contributors and beneficiaries. Unlike clan social capital networks, the compositions of neighborhoods and needs have shifted over time. This implies that the strength of neighborhood social capital networks lies in building bridges among localized groups to benefit from external and internal resources. Functionally, neighborhoods facilitate building webs of networks, and due to their highly embedded nature, such networks have had much more success than clan and individual social capital networks. The findings regarding the resilience of social capital networks for managing disasters are discussed.