Citizens’ Trust in Public and Political Institutions in Bangladesh and Nepal

Abstract

This paper has two major objectives. First, we try to analyze the level of citizens’ trust in public institutions in two countries—Bangladesh and Nepal. Second, we ask: What explains variations in institutional trust in these countries? We carry out analyses at the country level to show within-country and cross-country variations. The dependent variable is citizens’ assessment of institutional trust measured by confidence in a number of institutions. Two clusters of independent variables are assumed to influence citizens’ perceptions of trust. These are social capital measured as (1) generalized trust and (2) membership in different associations, and quality of government measured by (1) performance of public institutions, (2) how well they address a number of complex (so-called wicked) societal issues (human security, poverty, corruption, etc.), and (3) the trustworthiness of public officials, which is measured by their impartiality, friendliness, helpfulness, less indulgence in corrupt practices, etc. We analyze data derived from surveys we, the authors, carried out as part of a collaborative project in Nepal in 2008 and in Bangladesh in 2009, on the topic of citizens’ trust in public institutions.