Is trust in government a short-term strategic value or a long-term democratic value? A case study of three Nordic countries and three East Asian Nations

Abstract

Some prominent theorists suggest that trust in government functions primarily as a short-term strategic effect that stems from particularized social trust, political preference for politicians and positive evaluation of government performance. Others alternatively argue that trust in government is associated with long-term democratic values based on generalized social trust, association participation and internal political efficacy. The main purpose of this article is to examine these arguments by testing the following hypotheses: (1) whether trust in government is linked more to particularized social trust, political preference and external political efficacy, or (2) whether it is associated with generalized social trust, association participation and internal political efficacy. Furthermore, this article compares the similarities and differences of the relationships between trust in government and people’s political attitudes in three Nordic countries and in three East Asian nations. Using survey data from the 1999–2001EPCReN Survey on Denmark, Finland, Sweden, China, Japan, and Korea, this article shows that trust in government is related to specific support based on short-term strategic value like particularized social trust, political preference and external political efficacy; but it is far from the diffuse support based on long-term democratic value like generalized social trust, association participation and internal political efficacy; and that the relationships between trust in government and people’s political attitude-values have similarities and differences across nations.