New avenues in political trust research

Citizens’ trust in political institutions such as government, parliament, and political parties continues to be a pressing concern in contemporary democracy. Arguably, political trust has important implications for the quality of democracy, in its effects on political participation, support for government policies, voting for challenger parties, attitudes to democratic norms, and institutional reform. Unsurprisingly, politicians, commentators and researchers have been concerned at evidence from surveys that might indicate an erosion or even an outright crisis of political trust. For their part, scholars focused considerable attention on understanding the nature, causes, dynamics, and consequences of political trust across different countries and contexts. There are two important reasons why we want to continue this process of academic inquiry via the organization of a dedicated section on political trust at the ECPR General Conference. In particular, we seek to: (1) advance the burgeoning literature on political trust, and (2) contribute to the establishment of a network of political trust scholars, encouraging sustained collaboration and exchange of ideas. First, while political trust has been a salient topic in political science literature for decades, scholars have opened up new avenues of research in recent years. Conceptual innovations include a new attention on different states of trust, for example distrust and scepticism. This stimulated scholars to develop new and different measures. Theoretical innovations include the systematic development of rivalling models that account for stability and change in citizens’ trust, including socialization, evaluation, and heuristic approaches. Recent studies have aimed both to isolate and to integrate these rival models, sharpening our understanding of the causes of trust. Methodologically, scholars benefit from the increased availability of large-scale, cross-sectional time-series survey data (as well as methods to analyse such data), and supplemented this with an increased focus on experiments. This enabled scholars to focus more closely on the macro- and micro-level causes and consequences of political (dis)trust to test sometimes decades old theories and assumptions. Finally, political trust scholarship has moved beyond traditional regions of interest such as North America, and Western and Central Europe. The expansion of data collection allows us to test and refine existing theories in more authoritarian regimes as well as in the Global South. Second, the section is also designed to contribute to institution building. In recent years, the European political trust research community has begun setting up a network of trust scholars. This is illustrated by international collaborations, joint book projects, local conferences, as well as a panel at the 2024 ECPR Joint Sessions. We are now in the process of formalizing this network. Hosting a section at the 2025 ECPR General Conference would be an important next step in this construction of this network. All in all, the section aims to provide a platform for scholars from across Europe and beyond to present cutting-edge research and to foster discussion and collaboration that can drive future research on political trust. We invite papers on (dis)trust in political and administrative institutions, as well as papers on related attitudes such as efficacy, cynicism, and satisfaction with democracy. The themes addressed in this section are relevant to the broader political science scholarship, such as those working in the Standing Groups on Public opinion and electoral behavior, Political Psychology and Political culture (as appreciated and supported by the leadership of these SGs). We propose up to 8 panels. Colleagues from across Europe have indicated their willingness and ability to participate as chairs. 1. Trends in political trust (Chair: Elina Kestila Kekkonen, Tampere University, Finland) This panel aims to focus particularly on (a) the description and understanding of macro-level trends across different contexts, (b) the nature of micro-level changes, and (c) methodological advances at both levels of analysis. 2. Object-driven causes of political trust (Chair: Mariano Torcal, University Pompeu Fabra, Spain) This panel aims to focus particularly on the object of political trust (trustworthiness). Hence, it invites papers on (a) the relevance of contextual determinants (e.g., corruption, policy output, economic performance, quality of government, scandals), (b) tests the evaluative approach, and (c) mediation and moderation analyses. 3. Subject-driven causes of political trust (Chair: Staffan Kumlin, University of Oslo) This panel focuses on explanations of political trust that highlight the individual who does or does not trust. Hence, it emphasizes (a) explanations that emphasize the role of socialization, (b) explanations that emphasize personality and emotions, (c) demographics such as gender and age (e.g., adolescents). 4. The democratic effects of political (dis)trust (Chair: Viktor Valgardsson, University of Southampton) Scholars have long theorized about the consequences of political trust for democratic rule. This panel focuses on the consequences of political trust for the quality and functioning of democracy at the micro-level (e.g., support for democratic norms and practices; political participation) and at the macro-level (e.g., institutional reform). 5. Political trust, elections, and voting behavior (Chair: Erika van Elsas, Radboud University) This panel focuses on the reciprocal relation between political trust and party preference. Of particular interest are the relationships of political trust with a.o. populism and challenger parties. 6. Trust, public policy, and public administration (Chair: Koen Verhoest, University of Antwerp, Belgium) This panel focuses (a) on trust in executive and regulatory institutions, (b) on the relevance of political trust for policy support and compliance, and (c) on the role of political trust for the performance of public administration regimes. 7. Conceptualising and measuring political trust (Chair: Joseph A Hamm, Michigan State University) This panel focuses on new directions in the conceptualization and measurement of political trust, such as the recent push for a better understanding and new measures on mistrust, distrust, and scepticism. It also welcomes papers that innovatively deal with existing measures, for instance via measurement models. 8. Trust in new settings (Chair: Lisanne de Blok, University of Utrecht) Political trust research has predominantly focused on the national level in western democracies. This panel explicitly moves the attention to other settings, such as international and supranational institutions (e.g., EU, UN, NATO), local and regional institutions, the Global South, and authoritarian regimes.