Confidence in Public Institutions: Faith, Culture or Performance?

Is there a widespread loss of faith in the core institutions of representative democracy? Based on a comparison of 17 trilateral democracies this study examines institutional confidence from the early 1980s to the early 1990s then considers explanations based on the social psychology of trusting personalities, cultural accounts based on life experiences, and theories of institutional performance. The study concludes that at national level, social trust and confidence in government and its institutions are strongly associated with each other. Social trust can help build effective social and political institutions, which can help governments perform effectively, and this in turn encourages confidence in civic institutions. Paper for presentation at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Atlanta, 1-5th September 1999. Panel 14-2T WHAT'S TROUBLING THE TRILATERAL DEMOCRACIES? (Co-sponsored by 11-6) Friday 3rd September 1.30-3.15. This study is forthcoming as Chapter 8 in Susan Pharr and Robert Putnam (eds). DISAFFECTED DEMOCRACIES: What's Troubling the Trilateral Countries? Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.