The deeply-rooted Concern with Political Trust: A Conversation on Conceptualisations, Determinants and Consequences of Political Trust

POLICY STATE CONVERSATION (SEMINAR OF THE KEY THEME THE STATE AS PRODUCER OF PUBLIC POLICIES)

Liberal democracies rely on citizens' support. A reservoir of citizens' trust in political institutions helps to preserve the stability, viability and legitimacy of democracy, especially in times of crises. The concern with political trust is thus deeply rooted in ensuring the very survival of democracy - so goes the widespread conviction (Zmerli and Van der Meer, 2017). Consequently, political trust is back at the centre of the academic debate in today's world of multiple crises and contestations of democracy from within and the outside. However, few concepts in Social Science remain as elusive and fuzzy as political trust despite featuring so prominently in debates for decades. This seminar invites an open conversation about political trust - how it can be conceptualised, how it is formed and destroyed, and what consequences follow from trends in political trust. The discussion will be kickstarted by a presentation of the most recent academic discourse on political trust with its (few) spots of consensus and (many) departures. It will draw on an attempted classification of the current debate and the conceptualisations, determinants and consequences of political trust. A particular focus will be on recent advancements to define political trust not as a continuum or a binary judgement but as a family of concepts with additional members: Mistrust (related to political scepticism) and distrust (related to political cynicism).

Speaker 

Jens Cartens, Sciences Po, CEE