This book poses a straightforward set of questions: What is happening to trust in our democracies? Where is it faltering and where is it stable? And among which groups is this taking place? To answer these, the book assesses the state of trust in established democracies in the twenty-first century.
It looks beyond political trust in government to examine confidence in a wide range of institutions, including courts, universities and the media. This broader view reveals not a uniform collapse but a patchwork of outcomes. In many places, citizens still report moderate or high trust in government, while confidence in other institutions often remains strong.
The findings challenge crisis-driven narratives. While trust has eroded in some nations, especially the United States, in many others it has stayed steady for decades. This book invites readers to move beyond the drama of crisis narratives and towards a richer reality in which trust is not vanishing wholesale, but shifting unevenly across countries and institutions.
Table of Contents:
Introduction: Dissecting the ‘Crisis Of Trust’
1. Why Institutional Trust Matters
2. Trust Gap One: Who We Trust and Who We Don’t
3. Trust Gap Two: Who Trusts?
4. Trust Gap Three: How High Quality of Government/High Trust Countries Make Policy Work
5. Trust Gap Four: Trust in the Media Versus Trust in Experts
6. Bridging Trust Gaps
About the Author :
Aaron Martin is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Melbourne, Australia. He is the author of two books, Young People and Politics and, with Keith Dowding, Policy Agendas in Australia, and has published widely on public opinion and political behaviour.
Review :
“In this must-read book, Martin provides the freshest take that I’ve seen on political trust in decades.” Marc Hetherington, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
