Introduction to the Special Issue

In recent years, public institutions in developing and transitional countries have undergone profound changes due to increased globalization, economic growth, processes of democratization, and demands for increased participation in policy formulation and implementation by actors from the private and third sectors (Kim, 2010). Public institutions must develop trustful relations with these other social actors and citizens on a whole—in order to manage and address the changes and to gain legitimacy and develop partnerships through which they can successfully implement public policies (Jamil & Askvik, 2015). Mapping citizens’ trust in public institutions is a way of finding how trust changes over time and varies from one institution to another, and how a government is responding to citizens’ preferences. It is also a means for comparing countries and different contexts and for understanding variations in trust relations (Christensen & Lægreid, 2005). Most of the time, a trusting relationship between a government and citizens is seen as an indication of good governance; it reflects the government’s capacity to respond to citizens’ needs and demands. Still, this is not always the case. In some Asian countries with high power distance, institutional trust may sometimes be too high. This would especially be the case when citizens are enculturated to be deferential to public office holders and thus more easily accept their decisions and actions (Jamil & Askvik, 2013). From the perspective of democracy, citizens should both trust and distrust state institutions. Otherwise, trust becomes blind (Sztompka, 1999). Despite huge interest and an impressive body of literature generated in the context of Western and developed countries, research on institutional trust as it pertains to developing and transitional countries has been limited. There are, on one hand, indications that trust in both social and institutional bodies has remained deficient, especially when the issue of “good” or “sound” governance among academics and practitioner communities has become a big concern (Gleave, Robbins, & Kolko, 2011, p. 210). On the other hand, it is sometimes claimed that too much trust is extended to the institutional power holders. Our focus in this special issue is on trust in public and political institutions in the context of developing and transitional countries. The topic raises a number of questions: To what extent do institutional trust patterns differ in developing and transitional countries? What does institutional trust mean in a development context, where political systems are more volatile and political and societal cultures may be characterized as traditional and pre-modern, with high power-distance and strong collectivism? To what extent are Western explanations of institutional trust valid in non-Western contexts? For instance, can we assume that democratic political institutions will generate trust, or may autocratic political leaders stand out as more attractive and trustworthy? What are the consequences of low or high institutional trust in society? Will institutional trust play a similar role in pre-modern contexts? Trust is claimed to be the foundation of democratic societies; without it people become paralyzed into inaction (Hawley, 2012). When citizens consider political institutions to be trustworthy, they may want to participate and become politically active, and they tend to comply with rules and regulations. What, then, are the mechanisms for generating more trust in public and political institutions? Will those mechanisms be the same in Western and non-Western contexts?