Generalised trust in Greenland – institutions and identity matter

Abstract

ABSTRACT Greenland is a self-governing part of the Danish realm with an institutional system in transition from colonisation to further independence. Greenlandic governance institutions currently represent a mix of Greenlandic and Danish governance systems rooted in the Danish constitution and a Scandinavian universal welfare model. Denmark and other Nordic countries with similar governance systems and welfare models have high levels of generalised trust strongly correlated with institutional trust. No research has however been carried out in Greenland regarding generalised or institutional trust and their correlates – a research gap which this article seeks to remedy. The study is based on data from the Greenland Perspectives survey of 2018 and finds that generalised trust in Greenland is significantly different from the Danish average and the levels of other Nordic countries. Institutional trust positively and significantly correlates with generalised trust in line with theories of institutional trust as a driver of generalised trust. Greenlandic identity is negatively correlated with generalised trust contrary to theories of identity and majority/minority dynamics. The correlations between generalised trust, institutional trust, and identity are surprisingly not confounded by education or income, contrary to success and well-being theories of generalised trust. The study concludes that institutions and identity clearly matter, but in a different way than theories predict. The results raise an important question for further research of how institutions and identity come to matter in Greenland – especially how institutional quality is created under the complex bureaucratic and social conditions of the post-colonial microstate.