Trust in the discourse of public administration

Abstract

Many interdisciplinary issues in the past two decades were focused on the concept of trust as a constituent of good governance. But specific studies on the role of trust in the public sector remain scarce. However, the analytics of scientific publications reveal that attention to trust in the discourse of public administration had been increased. That became significant especially in the period of the Covid-19 pandemic. Citizens, politicians, public activists still believe that trust should be an essential goal and means of effective management. Despite considerable attention to the «trust» definition, the research community has failed to formulate a fundamental theory of trust. Rather, it is possible to observe a large spread of various theories, some of them exposing incompatible categorical apparatuses and various levels of abstraction. This article presents some thought-provoking issues arisen in discussions about the role of (no)confidence in the government,  ongoing for several decades. This article describes the main aspects ( clusters) of trust:

– citizens’ trust in public authorities and government (societal trust in government)- (Т1);

– citizens’ confidence in the state (governmental trust in society) (Т2);

– internal administrative trust (trust within government) (Т3).

One of the key unresolved issues still remains the question of balance between trust  (crucial for the effective functioning of a democratic system) and distrust of citizens required for the implementation of social control. The above question becomes particularly important in situations of low trust in institutions of public authority and, as a consequence, the growth of social tension in society, which fosters social and political movements. The failure of existing forms of institutionalization of distrust is a significant threat to the current socio-political system and therefore requires further study.