Political Trust Research Articles

The buffering effect of government responsiveness on authoritarian values and political trust: a cross-national study of 15 Asia-Pacific societies

The buffering effect of government responsiveness on authoritarian values and political trust: a cross-national study of 15 Asia-Pacific societies

Transparency Against Democracy: The Sweden Democrats, Radical‐Right Populism, and Political Trust

Existing explanations for the rise of populist radical‐right parties often focus on two primary factors: economic insecurity, driven by globalization, financial crises, and technological disruptions; and cultural backlash, which stems from intergenerational and immigration‐related value conflicts. While these perspectives offer valuable insights, there is little doubt that the growth of populist radical‐right parties is also closely linked to political distrust and declining confidence in democratic institutions. Supporters of populist radical‐right parties tend to exhibit lower political trust as compared to voters in mainstream parties. However, these explanations often overlook the complex relationship between anti‐establishment populist radical‐right parties and the very democratic accountability mechanisms designed to uphold transparency and institutional integrity. This study explores the paradoxical role of public transparency and press freedom in facilitating the rise of populist radical‐right and anti‐establishment movements, with a particular focus on Sweden—a country with exceptionally strong public transparency mechanisms. Traditionally regarded as pillars of democratic governance, these mechanisms have been strategically repurposed by the Sweden Democrats, an anti‐establishment, radical‐right party, to expose political scandals and erode trust in traditional elites. Leveraging alternative media platforms and even troll factories, the party has effectively weaponized transparency to amplify anti‐elite populist narratives. This research critically examines whether transparency and media freedom serve to strengthen democracy or instead enable the politicization of scandals, reinforcing populist distrust of institutions. By analyzing the intersection of transparency mechanisms, free press dynamics, and anti‐establishment populist strategies, this study provides a new perspective on how accountability tools can be manipulated for partisan gain. In doing so, it sheds light on the broader implications of transparency policies in an era of rising populism and increasing democratic polarization.

Untethered: resisting unhelpful assumptions about news trust and trust in other social institutions

In both the academic and grey literature, trust in news is often connected with trust in other societal institutions, including governments, politics, businesses and non-governmental organisations. This study investigates, through a lens of social-contract theory, the extent to which we can be confident that trust in news is directly connected to trust in government and politics, and to trust in other social institutions. Using a general-elimination method, we compare trends in trust-based social relationships to see which connections between trust in the news and public institutions should be retained in future studies. To help identify these (dis)connections, we explore mixed-methods data from a longitudinal study in Aotearoa New Zealand. Our findings suggest trust in news is connected to changes in trust in other social institutions but is not tethered to them, encouraging exploration of bespoke solutions for trust issues facing public-interest journalism.

Multidimensional political trust and its effects on political activism in nondemocracies: Findings from a concept-driven clustering method

Building on a conceptual distinction between trust in commitment and trust in competence, this study develops a fourfold typology of political trust. It then assigns respondents from a World Values Survey module conducted in 13 nondemocracies to those trust types using a clustering process guided by their corresponding ideal types. The results show that respondents reporting the same level of trust in government can belong to different trust types. Moreover, respondents from two trust types are particularly likely to engage in activism: one includes commitment trusters, who have high trust in government commitment but low trust in its competence, and the other includes those with low trust in both dimensions. This study effectively categorises respondents into conceptually derived trust types, reveals the effects of political trust on political participation in nondemocracies, and illustrates the value of constrained clustering for measuring multidimensional constructs based on a priori theoretical conceptualisation.

The Dutch Bourgeois Revolution and the Economic Development of the Netherlands (XVI – the First Half of the XVII Century)

The article is devoted to the transformation and development of the Dutch economy during the Eighty Years' War, as well as a little earlier and later than this war, during which the Dutch bourgeois Revolution ran. Authors focus on the connection of public institutions with economic development. They show that feudal relations in the Netherlands went through an evolutionary process of withering away, but the development of the capitalist mode of production proceeded slowly until it received an impetus from the political revolution of the late 16th century. The Dutch way of developing capitalism, according to authors, demonstrates a combination of rapid growth in industrial output and trade with conservatism in the field of institutional economics, since guilds and workshops have been preserved in the Netherlands. Protestantism, as the authors argue, created an international network of trust in both economics and politics, which ensured the development of capitalist relations in the Netherlands, especially evident in the formation and development of the East Indian and West Indian companies. This work is on economic history and partly it is devoted to research in the field of philosophy of economics in the perspective of identifying the impact of intellectual work of society on its socio-economic development. The authors also criticize the provisions of Karl Marx's theory of historical development, putting the intellectual development of society in the first place, but not the productive forces.

Norm Adherence, Trust, and Citizens' Compliance: Exploring Citizens Attitudes to Public Welfare Institutions Across Europe

ABSTRACTThe state is responsible for protecting and caring for its citizens, which sometimes requires citizens' compliance. For public health protection, citizens must get vaccinated, and to safeguard children, citizens must report suspected child maltreatment. Whilst previous research often links political trust to compliance, it remains unclear whether trust in specific welfare institutions plays a more decisive role. This paper offers new insights into compliance and its relationship to political and specific trust. Survey data from representative population samples in Finland, Norway, Poland, and Romania compares compliance across healthcare and child protection services. Institutional theory is used to understand patterns of trust and compliance in different welfare state models. While most respondents comply with the state (60 per cent), notable variations exist across institutional context and welfare domains. Across countries, trust in specific welfare institutions, rather than general political trust, is associated with higher levels of compliance. Strengthening the legitimacy of specific welfare institutions can potentially enhance compliance.

Generational dynamics of political trust and satisfaction in Czechia: the enduring impact of political socialisation during socialism

ABSTRACT The article examines how exposure to socialism shapes political attitudes and how the fall of the Iron Curtain affected political socialisation across generations in Czechia, while exploring the influence of political events on the formation of political attitudes. Generations born in the 1980s and later show a lower democratic deficit than older generations who were exposed to the socialist regime. When comparing generations exposed to socialism with revolutionary and post-revolutionary generations, younger cohorts were, during 2010–2019, more trusting of government and more satisfied with politics than their predecessors. They appear to have developed a more contented and level-headed relationship with democratic institutions.

Labour Market Discrimination of Muslims and Political Trust in Germany: Experimental Evidence on Muslim and Non-Muslim Responses

Abstract This study uses an online experiment to examine whether information about discrimination against Muslim women in the labour market affects Muslims’ trust in political institutions. The study examined whether this effect is more pronounced among Muslims with a strong Muslim identity, and whether there is an indirect effect of such discrimination on political trust via generalised trust. The study also examined reactions by non-Muslims to discrimination against Muslims. The results demonstrate that labour market discrimination reduces the trust of Muslims in the police and the national parliament, particularly among those with a strong identification as Muslim. For non-Muslims, however, no effect was found. Furthermore, the results show a (non-significant) effect of information about discrimination on generalised trust among Muslim participants. The generalised trust of non-Muslims remained unaffected by the knowledge of such information.

Capacity‐Learning Paradox: How Hong Kong and Singapore's Crisis Responses Shape and Are Shaped by Policy Capacities

ABSTRACTThis study examines the paradoxical relationship between policy learning and capacity: governments need certain capacities to learn effectively, yet these same capacities often emerge from previous learning experiences. Through a comparative analysis of Hong Kong and Singapore's responses to SARS and COVID‐19, we demonstrate how policy learning requires and manifests as enhanced analytical, operational, and political capacities. Our research reveals three key findings. First, learning outcomes materialize as enhanced capacities rather than just cognitive shifts and accumulated knowledge, as evidenced by both cities' institutional developments following SARS. Second, the effectiveness of learning processes depends heavily on existing capacities, particularly political capacity, which enables or constrains the deployment of analytical capacities. Third, capacity development is not linear—while both cities addressed many capacity gaps identified during SARS, COVID‐19 exposed new vulnerabilities in areas like cross‐border coordination and inclusive crisis management. These findings advance theoretical understanding of policy learning by showing how it manifests through changes in capacities. They also highlight the interdependence of different capacity types, particularly how political capacity enables or constrains the effectiveness of analytical and operational capabilities. For practitioners, our analysis emphasizes the importance of balanced capacity development and maintaining strong political trust alongside technical capabilities for effective crisis management.

Municipal services’ perceived quality in Chile: political trust vs. spending

Municipal services’ perceived quality in Chile: political trust vs. spending

Social Capital and Political Efficacy: A Review of Theories and Applications in the Context of Cambodian Youth

This Cambodia’s political landscape has been shaped by its post-conflict recovery and democratic transition, yet youth engagement in formal political processes remains limited. As young Cambodian people under the age of 30 make up more than 60% of the population, understanding the factors that enhance their political participation is critical for democratic development. This theoretical review examines how social theory can explain political efficacy among Cambodian youth, addressing the question of how Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) influence political beliefs and actions. Social capital, defined as the networks, trust, and norms that facilitate collective action, is explored through the foundational frameworks of Robert Putnam, Pierre Bourdieu, and James Coleman. This inquiry discusses three dimensions of social capital: bonding (close ties with family and peers), bridging (connections across diverse group), and linking (relationships with institutions and power structures), and how each dimension contributes to internal political efficacy (confidence in understanding the politics), and the external political efficacy (belief in political responsiveness). By synthesizing regional and global literature, this academic explanation demonstrates that Cambodian youth who are embedded in strong familial and community networks tend to develop higher political efficacy and a greater propensity for civic engagement. However, structural barriers such as limited political trust family or community restricted access to formal institutions continue to hinder broader participation. The conducted study concludes that strengthening social capital through grassroots initiatives, civic education, and youth engagement programs can empower young Cambodians to participate more meaningful in democratic processes. It calls for more context-specific and longitudinal research to fully capture the evolving relationship between social capital and political efficacy in Cambodia’s dynamic social-political environment.

Integration is local: how neighborhood social climate buffers the negative impact of ethnic discrimination on the political trust of immigrants and their descendants

Neighborhoods and the social climate within them represent critical social settings that influence the political attitudes of immigrants and their descendants. Specifically, this paper investigates how neighborhood characteristics influence the relationship between perceived discrimination and political trust. Therefore, the paper draws on original survey data collected in 40 German urban neighborhoods. The results of multilevel regressions confirm the negative impact of perceived ethnic discrimination on the political trust of immigrants and their descendants. Moreover, the findings suggest that higher levels of neighborhood social openness and positive intergroup contact mitigate this negative effect. These conditional effects are particularly pronounced in neighborhoods with lower increases in the share of immigrants. Thus, a better neighborhood social climate significantly impacts the political trust of immigrants and their descendants. In practical terms, these findings underscore the role of increasingly diverse urban neighborhoods in shaping the political attitudes of immigrants and their descendants.

The political lessons of precarious work: How profiles of perceived income inadequacy and job insecurity relate to union membership and political trust

This study examines the dynamics of job insecurity and perceived income inadequacy trajectories and their implications for political attitudes. The authors examine these phenomena over a period of five years, using latent class growth analysis. Using data from the Dutch LISS panel with 5662 employees, the study uncovers five distinct profiles that portray diverse levels of job insecurity and perceived income inadequacy, which are relatively stable across time or show only small changes: (1) very low job insecurity and adequate incomes, (2) converging low job insecurity and adequate incomes, (3) low job insecurity and high income inadequacy, (4) increasing job insecurity and high income inadequacy, (5) high job insecurity and adequate incomes. The study explores connections between these trajectories and political attitudes and behaviour, particularly union membership and trust. Union membership is highest among those with the greatest job insecurity. Examining trust in government, the economy, democracy and parliament, the authors find significant differences in trust levels among the five profiles. The most precarious profile consistently registers the lowest trust scores.

Social Policy and Political Trust: Long-Term Effects of Welfare Generosity in Europe

While some argue that diminishing welfare policies erode political trust, others contend they do not significantly influence support for political institutions. Despite pressures on social spending, a comprehensive examination of the relationship between welfare policies and political trust is lacking. This research analyzes trends in political trust across Europe using Bayesian dynamic latent variable modeling and investigates the impact of within-country changes and enduring between-country differences in social policies on national-level trust. It focuses on cash benefit transfer policies, particularly those addressing for life-course risks and labor market insurance. Results show that structurally generous social policies correlate with higher political trust, but short-term changes in policy generosity do not. Furthermore, the generosity of specific policies does not exhibit a clear direct relationship with national-level trust. Overall, these findings support the skeptical view that more generous welfare policies do not easily foster increased political trust in the short term.

Voiceless: Division, Distrust and Discrimination at the 2023 Voice Referendum

ABSTRACTThe referendum on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to Parliament in Australia resulted in defeat for the Yes case on October 14, 2023, by a margin of 40% to 60%. The referendum proposed a constitutional amendment to establish a representative body made up of Indigenous Australians to advise federal parliament on matters affecting the Indigenous community. Polling suggested that the referendum would defy the poor record of mid‐term referendums, but the No campaign prevailed. Assessments of this defeat are important to understanding future prospects for reconciliation between Indigenous and non‐Indigenous Australians. This article develops several hypotheses about factors driving the No result, testing them with a representative sample of 1204 voters conducted in October 2023. Results suggest that the No vote was driven by Coalition partisanship, low trust in media and politics, and most of all, weaker perceptions of No voters of the discrimination faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.

Winning is the only thing: election outcomes, satisfaction with democracy and political trust among populist voters in Europe

ABSTRACT Recent comparative and single-case studies have investigated the link between the electoral performance of populist parties and the political attitudes and behaviors of populist voters. However, they have not addressed what happens to populist voters’ satisfaction with democracy and political trust when populist parties gain representation in parliament or join cabinets across countries and over time in Europe. This study argues that there are two possible expectations. According to a ‘winner-loser’ mechanism, populist voters’ political trust and satisfaction might increase, thus bridging the gap with mainstream voters. Conversely, according to a ‘spiral of distrust’ mechanism, populist parties fuel discontent and populist voters’ political trust and satisfaction might decrease. Analyses of nine rounds of the European Social Survey from 22 countries and LISS panel data from the Netherlands find that voters of populist parties have less satisfaction with democracy, and less trust in parliament and politicians than voters of mainstream parties. However, these differences narrow over time when populist parties gain seats in parliament and enter the cabinet. This article shows that voters for populist parties might be ‘losers in disguise’ and that the performance of the parties they support serves as a corrective mechanism for their political dissatisfaction and distrust.

Quality of schooling and political trust among students

Political trust is a fundamental component of democratic stability, yet its relationship with the quality of schooling remains underexplored. This study examines how both student-level perceptions of schooling—measured through distributive justice, procedural fairness, and functional effectiveness—and national-level investment in education influence political trust across 22 European countries. Using data from Round 2 of the European Social Survey (2004) and national-level education expenditure from the World Bank (2004–2006), this study employs multilevel modeling to assess the impact of quality of schooling on political trust. The results reveal that students’ perceptions of distributive justice, procedural fairness and functional effectiveness significantly impact political trust, alongside national-level spending in education. These findings highlight the role of education in shaping political attitudes and suggest that government commitment to educational quality can enhance trust in political institutions. The study offers important implications for policymakers, particularly in the context of ongoing debates on education privatization and public investment in schooling.

Anti-corruption and political trust: Evidence from China

Anti-corruption and political trust: Evidence from China

The Impact of Online Political Conflict Frames on Party Evaluations and Trust in Politicians

ABSTRACT Politicians’ emphasis on conflict has been linked to public dislike of political parties and political distrust. Previous research has focused on how different conflict types, such as civil versus uncivil conflicts, impact perceptions of political actors and politics. However, little is known about how other relevant dimensions of conflict affect evaluations of political actors and trust in politicians. To address this gap and reconcile fragmented accounts and mixed evidence on the effects of conflict frames, this study explores how four dimensions of political conflict framing affect evaluations of the frame sponsor and trust in politicians. We specifically consider the impact of (1) uncivil versus civil conflicts, (2) substantive conflicts with or without personal attacks, (3) ordinary conflicts versus deep conflicts that concern underlying moral/epistemic principles, and (4) normative versus factual conflicts. An online experiment in the Netherlands (N = 1,376) was conducted. The results indicate that uncivil conflict frames can negatively affect voters’ evaluation of political parties, whereas factual conflict can fuel political distrust. However, most conflicts do not affect voters’ political attitudes. These findings suggest that most voters are resilient to conflict or have become numb to such messages due to prolonged exposure in our current information ecology.

Contours of Compliance: Unravelling Factors Shaping Public Health Policy Preferences in the COVID-19 Era

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the critical role of public attitudes in shaping policy responses to crises. Political trust, conspiracy beliefs, support for democracy, and acceptance of authoritarian rule are key factors influencing public preferences for policy trade-offs, such as prioritising public health versus economic activity, public monitoring versus privacy, and compliance with government regulations versus individual autonomy. This study aims to examine how these factors shape Europeans’ policy priorities during the pandemic and how variations in political trust at the national level influence these preferences. Using data from the European Social Survey Round 10 (2020–2022), which includes responses from 29 countries, multilevel regression analysis is employed to explore individual and country-level dynamics. The results indicate that higher political trust is associated with greater compliance with government measures, while conspiracy beliefs and authoritarian inclinations correlate with resistance to restrictions. Support for democracy shows limited influence on policy preferences. The findings underscore the importance of political trust in fostering public cooperation during crises and highlight the challenges posed by conspiracy beliefs and authoritarian support. The study contributes to understanding the interplay of trust, governance, and public attitudes, offering insights for designing efficient and publicly acceptable crisis policies.