Abstract
Contemporary discourses on political trust study have always assumed that there is a direct relationship between trust in government; democratization and effectiveness in governance. However, the gradual decline of political trust has compelled scholars to revise this predominant notion. Reconceptualization of political trust to accommodate the on-going empirical findings has shown its conceptual resiliency. So, the question remains as to how political trust relates to democracy. This paper aims to suggest other developments that are currently overlooked by the traditional political trust studies but will eventually challenge the conventional understanding of the concept. By fostering more in-depth discussion, particular developments are specified; these include the implications of methodological sophistication, current interest in non-democracy or new democracy, and overgrown government institutions. The challenges and future outlook are also briefly discussed. The focus of this review confines to the relevant literature that provides crucial insights into the discussion of similar themes. The selection of published literature draws on databases or online resources in the past 20 years is guided by the application of key concepts such as measurement equivalent, post-communism, and so on. Overall, the resiliency of the political trust concept is found as viable as before, yet the new insights will enrich the multifaceted meaning of political trust concept. This paper offers not a conclusive answer to the challenges, but it set forth intelligibly the need to recognize some critical issues that are beyond the traditional trajectory. It straightens out the need for scholars to be more methodological informed, socio-culturally sensitive, and aware of the complexities of government institutions when researching in the future.
Highlights
Mishler and Rose (2001) once characteristically stated that “trust is critical to democracy.” This assumption has been fundamental to the political trust study
Some call for an urgent trust recovery; whereas, others believe political trust always coexists with healthy scepticism (Van der Meer & Zmerli, 2017)
The first is about the implication of methodological sophistication on political trust study, an overlooked subject that most literature takes for granted
Summary
Mishler and Rose (2001) once characteristically stated that “trust is critical to democracy.” This assumption has been fundamental to the political trust study. Bouckaert and Van de Walle (2001) contended, paradoxically, that the declining trust is not necessarily a crisis to democracy. Instead, it is rather an inevitable effect of socio-cultural change that resulted in a prevalent attitudinal shifting among the younger generation and subsequently led to the decline of political trust (Dalton, 2005). It is rather an inevitable effect of socio-cultural change that resulted in a prevalent attitudinal shifting among the younger generation and subsequently led to the decline of political trust (Dalton, 2005) According to such view, the emerging critical citizens, accompanied by a compelling but healthy sense of scepticism towards political actors and institutions, are instrumental to the functioning of democratic government
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