Cutting-edge empirical research on political trust as a relational concept.
From a European comparative perspective, the book addresses a broad range of contested issues. Can political trust be conceived as a one-dimensional concept, and to what extent do international population surveys warrant the culturally equivalent measurement of political trust across European societies? Is there indeed an observable general trend of declining levels of political trust? What are the individual, societal and political prerequisites of political trust and how do they translate into trustful attitudes? Why do so many Eastern European citizens still distrust their political institutions and how does the implementation of welfare state policies enhance and benefit from political trust?
The comprehensive empirical evidence presented here by leading scholars offers valuable insights into the relational aspects of political trust and will certainly stimulate future research.
Features:
-a state-of-the-art European perspective on political trust
-an analysis of the most recent trends with regard to the development of political trust
-a comparison of traditional and emerging democracies in Europe
-the consequences of political trust on political stability and the welfare state
-a counterbalance to the gloomy American picture of declining political trust levels.
Marc Hooghe is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Leuven (Belgium) and a Visiting Professor at the universities of Mannheim (Germany) and Lille (France). He has published extensively on political participation and social capital, and holds an ERC Advanced Grant to investigate the democratic linkage between citizens and the state.
Sonja Zmerli is currently Acting Professor in Comparative Politics at the University of Mannheim. Her most recent research was published in the European Political Science Review, American Behavioral Scientist, Public Opinion Quarterly, Revista Española de Investigaciones Sociológicas, and European Political Science.
Uwe Bollow is a Research Assistant at the Department of Political Systems and Political Sociology at the University of Stuttgart. He recently completed his thesis on the role of ambivalence in the evaluation of welfare state reforms.
Mark Bovens is Professor of Public Administration and Research Director at the Utrecht School of Governance of Utrecht University in The Netherlands. His research interests include political trust, democracy and citizenship, and public accountability. His latest book (with Deirdre Curtin and Paul ‘t Hart, eds) is The Real World of EU Accountability: What Deficit? (Oxford, 2010).
Paul Dekker is Professor of Civil Society at Tilburg University and Head of the Participation and Government research unit of the Netherlands Institute for Social Research, SCP. Among his (co-)edited books are: The values of volunteering (Springer, 2003), Politiek cynisme (Synthesis, 2006), Civil society (Aksant, 2009), and Civicness in the governance and delivery of social services (Nomos, 2010).
Staffan Kumlin is Associate Professor at the University of Gothenburg and Research Fellow at the Institute for Social Research, Oslo. Kumlin studies political behaviour and European welfare states and is the author of The Personal and the Political: How Personal Welfare State Experiences Affect Political Trust and Ideology (Palgrave-Macmillan, 2004), as well as articles in journals such as British Journal of Political Science, Comparative Political Studies, Comparative Politics, and European Journal of Political Research.
Sofie Marien is an assistant professor at the University of Leuven. Her research interests are focused on democratic legitimacy, democratic innovations and political equality.
William Mishler is Professor of Government and Public Policy at the University of Arizona and Co-Editor of The Journal of Politics. A specialist in democratic theory, he teaches and writes on public opinion, political representation, and the dynamics of citizen support for political parties, leaders and regimes. He is the author or co-author of eight books, the most recent of which is Popular Support for an Undemocratic Regime: the Changing Views of Russians (Cambridge University Press, spring 2011). He is also the author of numerous articles and chapters in most of the leading political science journals including the American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, The Journal of Politics, British Journal of Political Science, Comparative Politics, Comparative Political Studies, and Legislative Studies Quarterly.
Kenneth Newton is Professor Emeritus, University of Southampton and Visiting Professor, Wissenschaftszentrum
Berlin, and Hertie School of Governance, Berlin.
Richard Rose is Professor of Politics at the University of Strathclyde, and Visiting Professor at European University Institute, Florence. He has acted as consultant to global organisations including the World Bank, UNDP and the OECD. His work has been translated into 17 languages and Samizdat, and he has contributed widely to print and television media. He has been awarded seven lifetime achievement honours in countries across the world.
In his outstanding six-decade career, Rose has written more than forty books about comparative politics and public policy. His broad knowledge - gained from working as a newspaper reporter and from his experiences in the corridors of power - allows him to combine the bottom-up perspective of the ordinary citizen with the views of presidents and prime ministers. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, Professor Rose has published six books on post-Communist countries, most recently Understanding Post-Communist Transformation: a Bottom Up Approach.
Eva-Maria Trüdinger is a Researcher at the Department of Political Systems and Political Sociology at the University of Stuttgart. Her research interests and recent publications focus on public opinion about policies and about the European Union and questions of political psychology.
Eric M Uslaner is Professor Emeritus of Government and Politics, Department of Government and Politics, University of Maryland - College Park. His books include The Historical Roots of Corruption (Cambridge University Press, 2017), Segregation and Mistrust: Diversity, Isolation, and Social Cohesion (Cambridge University Press 2012), The Moral Foundations of Trust (Cambridge University Press 2002). He is the editor of the Oxford Handbook of Social and Political Trust (2018).
Tom van der Meer is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Amsterdam. His interests encompass political trust, citizen participation, electoral volatility, and ethnic diversity. He has published on these topics in edited volumes and various national and international journals such as American Sociological Review, Comparative Political Studies, European Journal of Political Research, European Sociological Review, and International Review of Administrative Sciences.
Anchrit Wille is Senior Researcher and Lecturer at Leiden University, Institute of Public Administration. She is the (co-)author of articles on citizen politics and participation, trust in government, executive politics, political-administrative relationships, accountability and European governance. She published in journals such as West European Politics, International Review of Administrative Sciences, Public Administration, Journal of Happiness Studies, European Sociological Review, Acta Politica.
