Corruption and political trust: how the effect of societal cleavages on trust depend on the corruption context

Monika Bauhr and Nicholas Charron

Chapter 18 in Handbook on Trust in Public Governance, 2025, pp 292-307 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter reviews the literature on how the exercise of government power, and in particular the level of corruption, influences citizens’ political trust. We find that macro-level studies suggest that corruption, and institutional performance more broadly, is a highly salient factor in predicting trust levels, particularly in liberal democracies. We also review micro-level evidence for the important feedback loops where citizens’ lack of political trust also contributes to maintaining corrupt politicians in power, particularly since it undermines civic and electoral engagement and produces a general disenchantment with democratic institutions. This literature suggests that citizens with lower trust tend to abstain from voting altogether, which helps perpetuate a ‘vicious cycle’ of corruption. Finally, we demonstrate how variations in corruption and quality of government across Europe can explain why traditional predictors of trust, such as education levels, political ideology, and partisanship, influence trust levels in some contexts as opposed to others.

Keywords: Political trust; Corruption; Europe; Polarisation; Quality of government; Electoral accountability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781802201390
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