Confidence in representative institutions, such as parliaments, government and political parties, is reduced in democratic countries around the world.
This created a new study of scientists from the University of Southampton (Great Britain), the press service of the university reports.
It is noted that during the study, which is the largest and most complete analysis of political trust in the world, the results of 3,000,377 surveys conducted in 143 countries from 1958 to 2019 5 million respondents.
Although confidence in representative institutions, as a rule, is reduced, trust in unconstructive institutions, such as the police, the public service and the legal system, remains stable or increases, which indicates a special crisis of trust in the selected representatives of the countries, the article says.
Researchers emphasize that these results are “anxiety”, which can pave the path of undemocratic political leaders to use the state in a more authoritarian way:
The reduction in public confidence in political power is a serious problem that democratic governments are faced with today in many countries.
It is noted that the low level of political trust is usually associated with the support of populist parties and leaders who oppose the political establishment. It also complicates the reaction of governments to crises such as climate change and pandemia Covid-19.
In the United States, trust in the federal government has declined sharply over the past few decades, and it is no coincidence that we are now observing the dramatic attack on democratic institutions, led by the candidate who was chosen after the promise to do this, the researchers emphasize.
Although there is still evidence that citizens mainly support the idea of democracy, many of them have lost their faith in the institutions necessary for democratic management, which encourages some of them to vote for candidates who are designed to dismantle democracy, which we are such, we are, we are, we are We know, scientists add.
The study also showed:
- In general, the trust in parliament decreased by about nine percentage points from 1990 to 2019 in the democratic countries of the world, while confidence in the police increased by about 13 points for the same period;
- Confidence in parliament decreases in 36 democratic countries, including Argentina, Brazil, France, Italy, Spain, South Korea, Australia and the United States, and increased only in six;
- In the United Kingdom, confidence in parliament and government has gradually declined over the past decades, although a small (this seems temporary) recovery after the Brexit referendum. The trust in the legal system and the police seemed to decrease in the financial crisis of 2008, but since then it has gradually increased;
- The trust in parliament and the government fell sharply after the 2008 financial crisis, but there are some regional differences – in Latin America, political trust has grown around 2014, but since then it has decreased quickly. Meanwhile, there was no noticeable decline in Asia and the Pacific region;
- Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Ecuador and New Zealand are outside the global trend, when confidence in representative institutions is growing.
A decrease in trust in democratic institutions is not inevitable. If citizens do not trust how a democratic policy is implemented, then this policy can be changed, ”the scientists say. – Given the constant high support of citizens of democratic ideals, these changes may well occur in the direction of a more democratic government and no less democratic.
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Source: Racurs
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.