How trust, mistrust and distrust shape the governance of the COVID-19 crisis
How trust, mistrust and distrust shape the governance of the COVID-19 crisis
It is commonplace to claim that trust is essential to effective governance in many contexts, including that of a public health crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic. We argue that trust is better understood as a family of concepts–trust, mistrust and distrust–and each of these may have different implications for the governance of COVID-19. Drawing on original measures tested through nationally representative surveys conducted in Australia, Italy, the UK and the USA between May and June 2020, we explore how these distinct types of trust are associated with citizens’ perceptions of the threat posed by COVID-19, and their behavioural responses to it. We show how public policy dynamics around the COVID-19 crisis are driven by each of the trust family members and that policymakers might gain more from promoting an information-seeking and mistrusting society, rather than a trusting one.
COVID-19, crisis, distrust, governance, mistrust, Political trust
1174-1196
Jennings, Will
2ab3f11c-eb7f-44c6-9ef2-3180c1a954f7
Stoker, Gerry
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Valgarðsson, Viktor
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Devine, Daniel
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Gaskell, Jennifer
396e8032-08f6-45bb-9a80-728577bf279d
25 June 2021
Jennings, Will
2ab3f11c-eb7f-44c6-9ef2-3180c1a954f7
Stoker, Gerry
209ba619-6a65-4bc1-9235-cba0d826bfd9
Valgarðsson, Viktor
8f30ca41-f763-4cd2-9b08-1b4ff7ab27d9
Devine, Daniel
6bfa5a27-1b58-4c61-8eb0-a7a40860a4ae
Gaskell, Jennifer
396e8032-08f6-45bb-9a80-728577bf279d
Jennings, Will, Stoker, Gerry, Valgarðsson, Viktor, Devine, Daniel and Gaskell, Jennifer
(2021)
How trust, mistrust and distrust shape the governance of the COVID-19 crisis.
Journal of European Public Policy, 28 (8), .
(doi:10.1080/13501763.2021.1942151).
Abstract
It is commonplace to claim that trust is essential to effective governance in many contexts, including that of a public health crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic. We argue that trust is better understood as a family of concepts–trust, mistrust and distrust–and each of these may have different implications for the governance of COVID-19. Drawing on original measures tested through nationally representative surveys conducted in Australia, Italy, the UK and the USA between May and June 2020, we explore how these distinct types of trust are associated with citizens’ perceptions of the threat posed by COVID-19, and their behavioural responses to it. We show how public policy dynamics around the COVID-19 crisis are driven by each of the trust family members and that policymakers might gain more from promoting an information-seeking and mistrusting society, rather than a trusting one.
Text
JEPP_COVID Accepted manuscript
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 10 May 2021
Published date: 25 June 2021
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
Research Funding support was provided by ESRC research award ES/S009809/1.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Keywords:
COVID-19, crisis, distrust, governance, mistrust, Political trust
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 449834
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/449834
ISSN: 1350-1763
PURE UUID: 47405552-dc45-4b79-9952-16e1434ecf88
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Date deposited: 21 Jun 2021 16:31
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 03:59
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Author:
Daniel Devine
Author:
Jennifer Gaskell
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