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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
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
1350-1763
1174-1196
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
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), 1174-1196. (doi:10.1080/13501763.2021.1942151).

Record type: Article

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.

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JEPP_COVID Accepted manuscript - Accepted Manuscript
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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
ORCID for Will Jennings: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-9007-8896
ORCID for Gerry Stoker: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-8172-3395
ORCID for Viktor Valgarðsson: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-2891-7489
ORCID for Daniel Devine: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-0335-1776

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 21 Jun 2021 16:31
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 03:59

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Contributors

Author: Will Jennings ORCID iD
Author: Gerry Stoker ORCID iD
Author: Daniel Devine ORCID iD
Author: Jennifer Gaskell

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