Undermining or defending democracy? The consequences of distrust for democratic attitudes and participation

Dados Bibliográficos

ID12985333
AutoresFelix Butzlaff (0000-0001-6247-3194, Vienna University of Economics and Business, autor correspondente), Sören Messinger-Zimmer (University of Göttingen)
Ano2019
Volume14
Fascículo3
Páginas249-266
Data de publicação2019-03-01
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoCritical Policy Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1946-0171 • E-ISSN: 1946-018X
EditoraTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/19460171.2019.1584120
OpenAlexW2918616621
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas21
Referências citadas38

We can observe a well-documented decline of trust levels in Western societies: from the reputation of political representatives as being ‘not trustworthy’ to the rise of anti-system-oriented populist parties. Yet the implications of different forms of distrust for a society and democratic institutions have been theorized in conflicting ways so far. In order to illuminate existing inconsistencies in social and democratic theory, this article addresses two research questions: What are the implications of different manifestations of distrust for the acceptance of democracy and democratic institutions? How do different forms of distrust affect the motivation to become engaged in democratic decision-making and in civil society institutions? Taking empirical evidence from 25 focus groups in Germany, our findings show that growing social divisions affect the role distrust plays for political interest representation of social groups and for the acceptance of liberal representative democracy

Democracy · Distrust · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Law · Public Administration · Social Policy and Reform Studies

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