Trust and Trustworthiness in National and Global Governance
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Southampton
Department Name: Sch of Economic, Social & Political Sci
Abstract
There is widespread concern among scholars and popular commentators that citizens have grown more distrustful of politicians, sceptical about political institutions, and disillusioned with democratic processes and principles. Cynicism about government is thought to erode civic engagement and conventional forms of political participation, to reduce support for progressive public policies, and to provide the oxygen fuelling authoritarian-populist forces. The risks of democratic backsliding are regarded as particularly serious if public scepticism spreads upwards from core institutions of governance to corrode citizens' evaluations about the performance of liberal democracy and even its core ideals. Some fear a flagging civic culture may potentially contribute towards what many observers see as a liberal democratic retreat around the world.
To date, most research has emphasised demand-side explanations of trust: what it is about citizens, like their education, class, attitudes, or cohort of birth, which makes them trusting. This project develops a theoretically novel, empirically ambitious and methodologically innovative approach to understanding how trust in agencies of national and global governance relates to trustworthiness, measured by performance indicators for governance agencies. We identify two primary dangers about any mismatch between trust and trustworthiness; where citizens are cynical about benevolent actors, which genuinely serve the public interest, and also where citizens naively trust malevolent actors, such as corrupt leaders. By contrast, the theory of critical citizens suggests that people should ideally trust but verify trustworthiness.
The preponderance of evidence has compared political trust in the U.S., Europe and other established liberal democracies. By contrast, we will compare a far broader range of countries and types of regimes worldwide. The inclusion of authoritarian regimes, institutions and leaders, in particular, challenges many conventional theoretical and normative assumptions about trust and trustworthiness. We also will focus on analyzing trust across a range of national and global agencies of government (e.g. the UN, World Bank, IMF, WTO, and NATO, and regional multilateral organizations such as the EU, OAS, OSCE, and AU), which have received far less systematic attention in comparative research. How agencies might mobilize popular support is a highly practical and policy-relevant question, to which this study will contribute.
To undertake our analysis, we will draw primarily upon large-scale longitudinal and cross-national survey data from the World Values Survey/European Values Survey (WVS/EVS) and Eurobarometer, combined with national-level performance indices (including expert surveys) and individual-level perceptions of regime performance. We will commission additional national surveys from the WVS/EVS, prioritising fieldwork in authoritarian regimes - enabling us to develop global comparisons across a range of contexts. Building on the WVS/EVS will provide added value at relatively low cost. Our comparative analysis will combine aggregate- and individual-level analysis, and will use multi-level methods to understand individuals embedded within broader contexts. We will also use focus groups and survey and lab experiments. The project will additionally pilot new questions for measuring trust in political institutions.
To date, most research has emphasised demand-side explanations of trust: what it is about citizens, like their education, class, attitudes, or cohort of birth, which makes them trusting. This project develops a theoretically novel, empirically ambitious and methodologically innovative approach to understanding how trust in agencies of national and global governance relates to trustworthiness, measured by performance indicators for governance agencies. We identify two primary dangers about any mismatch between trust and trustworthiness; where citizens are cynical about benevolent actors, which genuinely serve the public interest, and also where citizens naively trust malevolent actors, such as corrupt leaders. By contrast, the theory of critical citizens suggests that people should ideally trust but verify trustworthiness.
The preponderance of evidence has compared political trust in the U.S., Europe and other established liberal democracies. By contrast, we will compare a far broader range of countries and types of regimes worldwide. The inclusion of authoritarian regimes, institutions and leaders, in particular, challenges many conventional theoretical and normative assumptions about trust and trustworthiness. We also will focus on analyzing trust across a range of national and global agencies of government (e.g. the UN, World Bank, IMF, WTO, and NATO, and regional multilateral organizations such as the EU, OAS, OSCE, and AU), which have received far less systematic attention in comparative research. How agencies might mobilize popular support is a highly practical and policy-relevant question, to which this study will contribute.
To undertake our analysis, we will draw primarily upon large-scale longitudinal and cross-national survey data from the World Values Survey/European Values Survey (WVS/EVS) and Eurobarometer, combined with national-level performance indices (including expert surveys) and individual-level perceptions of regime performance. We will commission additional national surveys from the WVS/EVS, prioritising fieldwork in authoritarian regimes - enabling us to develop global comparisons across a range of contexts. Building on the WVS/EVS will provide added value at relatively low cost. Our comparative analysis will combine aggregate- and individual-level analysis, and will use multi-level methods to understand individuals embedded within broader contexts. We will also use focus groups and survey and lab experiments. The project will additionally pilot new questions for measuring trust in political institutions.
Planned Impact
This project will inform and influence ongoing debates and enhance wider understanding of public trust in national and global governance, and the mechanisms through which regimes secure the support of citizens. Our research is relevant to a number of target audiences:
1. National and international policymakers: the research will provide crucial insights on patterns of trust and trustworthiness in political institutions across the world.
2. Civil society organisations and social movements engaged in campaigns to maintain or restore trust in agencies of national and global governance.
3. Business and other organisations concerned with national and global political risk and potential for democratic backsliding.
4. Media: the findings will be of interest to a range of journalists across the world through advancing understanding of trust in the media as well as the role of political communications in engendering percetions of trustworthiness.
5. The public: more broadly findings from the project will inform and engage citizens concerned with the health of liberal democracies.
We will draw on extensive experience and connections of the project team to develop relationships with policymakers, civil society and media - to ensure impacts are realised. We will use our links with organisations such as the UNDP, IFES, International IDEA, the IPU, the EU, Museum of Australian Democracy, Hansard Society, and Brookings Institution to organise briefing events. We will produce policy reports that present findings. We will commission a documentary based on the project, working with the documentary-maker to get this distributed through a public service broadcaster in the UK and/or North America along with the production of 2-3 minute online 'short shorts'. This will enable our research to reach a wider audience of citizens and other stakeholders.
We expect direct users to include: national and global agencies of governance (e.g. the UN), politicians and parties (both mainstream and outsiders), activists, civil servants, social movements, and private institutions (such as business) who have an interest in understanding sources of trust in political institutions, and specifically the strategies of regimes used to build support among citizens. We will reach these users via published working papers, presentations, policy reports, podcasts, blogs, interviews, and commentaries placed in national and international media.
We also expect indirect users to include citizens living in different regime types across the world, since the project aims to understand how consent is manufactured by the governed. We will make our findings easily accessible via our documentary and 'short shorts' distributed online. We will also use our connections with journalists (and our university press offices in the UK, US and Australia) to brief media such that our research dissemination has international reach.
In the longer-term, we expect to advance understanding of techniques that regimes use to generate support for agencies of national and global governance, and of the role of place in shaping public attitudes. We will generate new high-quality survey data which provides insight on trust in political institutions in hybrid and autocratic regimes in particular. We will generate new survey measures of trust and regime strategies and performances (such as through expert surveys), and demonstrate the effect of media exposure and messaging on political support.
While there is widespread concern about the crisis of democracy this ambitious project will provide novel theoretical insights on the sources of regime support, new empirical supply-side evidence on drivers of trust in agencies of national and global governance, and practical lessons for rebuilding trust in national and global governance.
1. National and international policymakers: the research will provide crucial insights on patterns of trust and trustworthiness in political institutions across the world.
2. Civil society organisations and social movements engaged in campaigns to maintain or restore trust in agencies of national and global governance.
3. Business and other organisations concerned with national and global political risk and potential for democratic backsliding.
4. Media: the findings will be of interest to a range of journalists across the world through advancing understanding of trust in the media as well as the role of political communications in engendering percetions of trustworthiness.
5. The public: more broadly findings from the project will inform and engage citizens concerned with the health of liberal democracies.
We will draw on extensive experience and connections of the project team to develop relationships with policymakers, civil society and media - to ensure impacts are realised. We will use our links with organisations such as the UNDP, IFES, International IDEA, the IPU, the EU, Museum of Australian Democracy, Hansard Society, and Brookings Institution to organise briefing events. We will produce policy reports that present findings. We will commission a documentary based on the project, working with the documentary-maker to get this distributed through a public service broadcaster in the UK and/or North America along with the production of 2-3 minute online 'short shorts'. This will enable our research to reach a wider audience of citizens and other stakeholders.
We expect direct users to include: national and global agencies of governance (e.g. the UN), politicians and parties (both mainstream and outsiders), activists, civil servants, social movements, and private institutions (such as business) who have an interest in understanding sources of trust in political institutions, and specifically the strategies of regimes used to build support among citizens. We will reach these users via published working papers, presentations, policy reports, podcasts, blogs, interviews, and commentaries placed in national and international media.
We also expect indirect users to include citizens living in different regime types across the world, since the project aims to understand how consent is manufactured by the governed. We will make our findings easily accessible via our documentary and 'short shorts' distributed online. We will also use our connections with journalists (and our university press offices in the UK, US and Australia) to brief media such that our research dissemination has international reach.
In the longer-term, we expect to advance understanding of techniques that regimes use to generate support for agencies of national and global governance, and of the role of place in shaping public attitudes. We will generate new high-quality survey data which provides insight on trust in political institutions in hybrid and autocratic regimes in particular. We will generate new survey measures of trust and regime strategies and performances (such as through expert surveys), and demonstrate the effect of media exposure and messaging on political support.
While there is widespread concern about the crisis of democracy this ambitious project will provide novel theoretical insights on the sources of regime support, new empirical supply-side evidence on drivers of trust in agencies of national and global governance, and practical lessons for rebuilding trust in national and global governance.
Publications
Bunting H
(2021)
Trust, Mistrust and Distrust: A Gendered Perspective on Meanings and Measurements
in Frontiers in Political Science
Clarke N
(2021)
Voter Decision-Making in a Context of Low Political Trust: The 2016 UK EU Membership Referendum
in Political Studies
Clarke N
(2021)
Voter Decision-Making in a Context of Low Political Trust: The 2016 UK EU Membership Referendum
in Political Studies
Devine D
(2023)
Stability and Change in Political Trust: Evidence and implications from six panel studies
in European Journal of Political Research
Devine D
(2021)
Trust and the Coronavirus Pandemic: What are the Consequences of and for Trust? An Early Review of the Literature.
in Political studies review
Devine D
(2023)
Political trust in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic: a meta-analysis of 67 studies
in Journal of European Public Policy
Devine D
(2024)
Political trust and climate policy choice: evidence from a conjoint experiment
in Journal of Public Policy
Title | The Trust Crisis |
Description | The TrustGov research project at the University of Southampton teamed up with the film production company Silverfish to create this documentary about political trust. The documentary explores how diverse, ordinary citizens (from the UK, USA and Denmark) feel about their governments, political institutions, politicians and why they feel this way. The film highlights the state of political trust in the world and whether it has been declining in recent times; it also looks at what the consequences of this may be for our democracies and society. The documentary includes extensive interviews with multiple academics from the UK, USA, Denmark, France and Iceland, as well as various journalistic experts, community activists and ordinary citizens. Academics from TrustGov and beyond share their findings and ideas with the audience in an engaging and relatable way, woven together with the personal stories of ordinary citizens. |
Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
Year Produced | 2021 |
Impact | The Trust Crisis documentary won the Spotlight Award at the @AShowForAChange @movikarma film festival. |
URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mJbplDCrWs&t=109s |
Description | Our research adds to understanding of political trust in five main ways. (1) We present a systematic global and comparative analysis of over-time and generational trends in trust in political authorities using advanced quantitative methods. (2) We expand the conceptualisation and measurement of the topic to explore mistrust and distrust alongside trust (distinguishing between different members of the 'trust family'), and latent trust as a state of trust that is activated at times of threat or crisis. (3) Further, we add a focus on how citizens make their trust judgements, and in doing so open up a new claim: that the deepest crisis in trust might be how citizens can judge who is trustworthy. (4) We demonstrate the consequences of trust for politics and policy-making, and specifically how trust conditions and limits the quality of democratic governance. Specific empirical findings from the project include: * Drawing on data from 3,839 surveys conducted in 143 countries between 1958 and 2019, we use Bayesian dynamic latent trait models to show that while satisfaction with democracy has been stable or rising political trust has been declining in many democracies around the world. * Trust, mistrust, and distrust are shown - through cross-national surveys and meta-analysis - to be strong drivers of covid-19 fear and pro-social behaviours (compliance and vaccine willingness) but with important cross-national varieties, notably in relation to the role of elite partisan cues. * We use data from the World Values Survey and European Values Survey, covering nearly 100 countries, to show that there are similar levels of trust in government between people living in urban and rural areas in developed countries, while we find higher levels of trust for rural populations compared to those residing in urban areas at low levels of development. These findings offer an important caveat to the standard account of the 'geography of discontent' in advanced industrial democracies. * Trust, mistrust and distrust are shown to be predictors of the endorsement of conspiratorial beliefs in developed and developing countries. * We use qualitative data from cross-national focus groups to demonstrate significant commonalities in the way that citizens judge the trustworthiness of politicians. |
Exploitation Route | There are numerous ways that outcomes of the TrustGov project might be taken forward by others: (1) survey measures developed on trust, mistrust and distrust might be used by other researchers in their work, (2) experimental designs used to test predictors of the trustworthiness of governments/politicians might be used in relation to other countries and/or other actors or institutions, (3) qualitative methods for investigating how citizens formulate trust judgments might be used by other researchers in local and national settings, (4) cross-national data from the World Values Survey 7th wave might be further explored by others in relation to other attitudinal and demographic variables in the WVS. |
Sectors | Government Democracy and Justice |
URL | https://trustgov.net/ |
Description | Findings from the TrustGov project have had a number of non-academic impacts. Firstly, the project team collaborated on a report with the OECD about political trust. The report drew heavily on the theoretical framework of the project and empirical analysis undertaken by team members. The collaboration has informed the work of the OECD Directorate for Public Governance, with the TrustGov PI sitting on the advisory board for the OECD Trust Survey and providing advice on its development. Secondly, members of the project team coauthored a report with the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) on the state of political trust in Britain. This led to front page coverage by the Observer and further media interest. Thirdly, findings from the project were shared with a Network Briefing of the UN General Assembly on 'Our Common Agenda - Trust Building' organised by the UN Office of the Secretary-General and has led to ongoing dialogue with the UN Foundation about developing research on political trust. Fourthly, the TrustGov project collaborated with filmmakers Silverfish Media to produce a documentary, The Trust Crisis, which has won a documentary film festival award and has received public screenings and is now available to view free online. |
First Year Of Impact | 2021 |
Sector | Government, Democracy and Justice |
Impact Types | Cultural Societal Policy & public services |
Description | Evidence presented by Jen Gaskell to the the 5th Network Briefing of the UN General Assembly on 'Our Common Agenda - Trust Building' |
Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
Description | Research on political trust (Jennings and Stoker) cited in the House of Commons Library Briefing Paper ('Political disengagement in the UK: who is disengaged?') |
Geographic Reach | National |
Policy Influence Type | Citation in other policy documents |
URL | https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-7501/CBP-7501.pdf |
Description | EPOP Survey Funding |
Amount | £4,500 (GBP) |
Organisation | Political Studies Association |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 11/2019 |
End | 11/2019 |
Description | Identifying the trustworthiness of information sources during the COVID-19 pandemic: Enhancing information reception across the population |
Amount | £100,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | The British Academy |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2021 |
End | 03/2022 |
Description | Rapid Reaction Fund |
Amount | £27,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Economic and Social Research Council |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 02/2020 |
End | 03/2020 |
Description | Rebuilding Political Trust (Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship, Dr Viktor Valgardsson) |
Amount | £117,676 (GBP) |
Organisation | The Leverhulme Trust |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 08/2022 |
End | 08/2025 |
Description | The Revival of the Urban-Rural Divide in Western Europe? A comparative study of the geography of discontent and political representation (British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, Dr Lawrence McKay) |
Amount | £278,857 (GBP) |
Organisation | The British Academy |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 08/2022 |
End | 09/2025 |
Description | UKRI COVID-19 Grant Extension (University of Southampton allocation) |
Amount | £27,600 (GBP) |
Organisation | United Kingdom Research and Innovation |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 08/2020 |
End | 12/2020 |
Description | University of Southampton QR GCRF funding |
Amount | £63,488 (GBP) |
Funding ID | 519016146 |
Organisation | University of Southampton |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 11/2020 |
End | 07/2021 |
Title | TrustGov Surveys (France, Germany, Argentina, Croatia, Spain - 2022) |
Description | Online surveys of nationally representative samples were conducted in France, Germany, Argentina, Croatia and Spain. These included novel measures of trust, mistrust and distrust, in addition to a wide range of alternative measures of trust, endorsement of conspiratorial beliefs, perceptions of geographic bias, social and political identities, and views on democratic reforms. Some of the surveys also included experimental designs that test the attributes of politicians associated with trustworthiness. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2022 |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | This data has enabled, to date, the production of working papers or journal articles on topics relating to: vaccine hesitancy; conspiratorial beliefs; trustworthy attributes of politicians; the measurement of constructs of trust, mistrust and distrust; perceptions of geographic bias; how trust influences support for climate change policy; support for democratic reform. |
Title | TrustGov Surveys (UK, US, Italy - 2020) |
Description | Online surveys of nationally representative samples were conducted in the UK, US and Italy in May 2020. These included novel measures of trust, mistrust and distrust, as well as a range of questions about the Covid-19 pandemic - which included assessments of government handling of the outbreak, fear of covid, changes in behaviour in response to the pandemic. The surveys also included experimental designs that test the attributes of governments associated with distrust. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2020 |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | This data has enabled, to date, the production of working papers or journal articles on topics relating to: how the constructs of trust, mistrust and distrust are associated with behavioural and emotional (fear) responses to the pandemic; the role of fear and national pride in 'rally-round-the-flag' responses to crisis. Results from the survey also were included in a report produced with the Museum of Australian Democracy relating to trust and the pandemic. |
Title | World Values Survey 7th Wave (Ethiopia, Kenya, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Libya, Morocco, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Philippines, Tajikistan, Venezuela, Vietnam, Zimbabwe) |
Description | The World Values Survey (WVS) is an international research program devoted to the scientific and academic study of social, political, economic, religious and cultural values of people in the world. The project's goal is to assess which impact values stability or change over time has on the social, political and economic development of countries and societies. The project grew out of the European Values Study and was started in 1981 by its Founder and first President (1981-2013) Professor Ronald Inglehart from the University of Michigan (USA) and his team, and since then has been operating in more than 120 world societies. The main research instrument of the project is a representative comparative social survey which is conducted globally every five years. Extensive geographical and thematic scope, free availability of survey data and project findings for broad public turned the WVS into one of the most authoritative and widely-used cross-national surveys in the social sciences. At the moment, WVS is the largest non-commercial cross-national empirical time-series investigation of human beliefs and values ever executed. The ESRC TrustGov project sponsored surveys in the 7th Wave of the WVS in Ethiopia, Kenya, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Libya, Morocco, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Philippines, Tajikistan, Venezuela, Vietnam and Zimbabwe. These surveys included modules on the constructs of trust, mistrust and distrust, in addition to items relating to the competence, benevolence and integrity of national and global governance organisations. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2022 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | The WVS data has enabled, to date, the production of Pippa Norris's book 'In Praise of Skeptism' in addition to a number of working papers from the project. The WVS 7th wave data has already been widely used in a large number of academic studies in a short period of time. |
URL | https://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/WVSDocumentationWV7.jsp |
Description | Collaboration with the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) on a report ('Trust Issues') on political trust |
Organisation | IPPR Institute for Public Policy Research |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | Will Jennings and Viktor Valgardsson from the TrustGov project coauthored the report with IPPR, contributing theoretical and empirical analysis. |
Collaborator Contribution | The IPPR team (Harry Quilter-Pinner and Rachel Statham) cowrote the report and arranged for its production and promotion. |
Impact | The IPPR/TrustGov report was covered on the front page of the Observer and Will Jennings was interviewed regarding the findings on LBC radio. |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | Collaboration with the OECD on a report 'Building a new paradigm to measure citizen trust in government' |
Organisation | Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development OECD |
Country | France |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | The TrustGov project team co-designed and contributed analysis to a report on political trust published by the OECD in December 2021. |
Collaborator Contribution | The OECD team led on drafting of the full report and organised promotion and distribution of the report. |
Impact | The TrustGov team contributed to a report by the OECD 'An updated OECD framework on drivers of trust in public institutions to meet current and future challenges' which drew heavily on the project's theoretical framework and empirical findings/analysis from the project. The report has informed development of a cross-national trust survey being conducted by the OECD in 2021-22. |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | TrustGov membership of the World Values Survey Association network |
Organisation | World Values Survey Association |
Country | Austria |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | Through financial support from the ESRC, the TrustGov project has been able to support the commissioning of fieldwork for the World Values Survey in 12 countries (Ethiopia, Kenya, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Libya, Morocco, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Philippines, Tajikistan, Venezuela, Vietnam and Zimbabwe). The TrustGov project has made contributions to the World Values Survey Association through the design of additional survey instruments relating to trust, mistrust and distrust, in addition to survey experiments testing for the effects of different aspects of trustworthiness in trust judgements. |
Collaborator Contribution | The World Values Survey Association has provided extensive support to the TrustGov project through the commissioning of surveys from local organisations and advised on the design and implementation of new survey instruments. |
Impact | World Values Surveys (WVS) conducted by the WVSA, financed by the TrustGov project, in Ethiopia, Kenya, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Philippines, Tajikistan, Vietnam and Zimbabwe have been made available in the interim data release of the WVS 7th wave. The final surveys from Libya, Morocco and Venezuela will be released in the summer of 2022. This data is already extensively being used in academic research and by stakeholders in wider society. |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Article by Jen Gaskell and Gerry Stoker for the LSE BPP blog on 'Centralised or multi-level: which governance systems are having a 'good' pandemic?' |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | This blog shared insights from research on governance responses to COVID-19 in the UK and Switzerland (relating to question of trust in times of crisis). |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Article by Jen Gaskell, Will Jennings and Gerry Stoker for the LSE BPP blog on 'COVID-19 has revealed our governance system lacks capacity, but will we do anything about it?' |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | This blog shared insights from research on the adequacy of the governance response to COVID-19 in the UK and proposals for learning from handling of the crisis. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Article for international news outlet The Conversation (estimated reach of 18,000) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | Co-authored article between Dr Hannah Bunting and Dr Daniel Devine about Boris Johnson's premiership and trust. Main readers in the UK, Ireland, US and Australia. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://theconversation.com/boris-johnson-four-key-insights-from-recent-polls-can-help-us-see-where-... |
Description | Article on the LSE British Policy and Politics blog by Lawrence McKay on 'Levelled-up or forgotten people? Place and public perceptions of bias in the Johnson government' |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | A blog on political trust and levelling-up was published on the LSE British Policy and Politics blog, sharing key insights from recent survey fieldwork and analysis. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Blog (Political Quarterly) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Post-Election blog on trust and the GE. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://politicalquarterly.blog/2019/12/19/the-2019-general-election-whats-trust-got-to-do-with-it/ |
Description | Blog (Sky Data) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Blog before General Election on public opinion: 'Sky Data poll: A nation discontented and divided' |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://news.sky.com/story/sky-data-poll-a-nation-discontented-and-divided-11841932 |
Description | Blog (The Conversation) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Blog for The Conversation on state of democracy in Australia. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://theconversation.com/dont-believe-the-stereotype-these-5-charts-show-our-democracy-is-safe-in... |
Description | Blog (UKICE) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Blog for ESRC-funded UK in a changing EU on trust and the general election. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://ukandeu.ac.uk/trust-distrust-and-the-2019-general-election/# |
Description | Blog (UKICE) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | Blog on trust in MPs, following the release of the new British Election Study data. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://ukandeu.ac.uk/political-trust-realigned-after-the-general-election/ |
Description | Blog by Jen Gaskell, Gerry Stoker, Will Jennings and Dan Devine for the Cambridge University Press website: 'Two Faces of Trust: Why Trust Matters for COVID-19' |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | This blog shared insights from the TrustGov project, with specific reference to COVID-19. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | http://www.cambridgeblog.org/2020/05/two-faces-of-trust-why-trust-matters-for-covid-19/ |
Description | Blog by Jen Gaskell, Gerry Stoker, Will Jennings and Dan Devine on the UK in a Changing Europe website: 'Public trust and Covid-19' |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | This blog shared insights from the TrustGov project and specifically focus groups on how people make trust judgements. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://ukandeu.ac.uk/public-trust-and-covid-19/ |
Description | Blog by Will Jennings and Chris Curtis for the YouGov website - 'No, trust in the media has not collapsed because of coronavirus' |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | The blog shared research findings from a survey on trust in media - contributing to public debate over the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on trust. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://yougov.co.uk/topics/media/articles-reports/2020/04/29/no-trust-media-has-not-collapsed-becau... |
Description | Blog by Will Jennings on the UK in a Changing Europe website: 'Political trust post-Brexit' |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Blog sharing research findings from the TrustGov project on the impact of Brexit on political trust and discussion of the long-term consequences. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://ukandeu.ac.uk/brexit-and-political-trust/ |
Description | Blog for UK and EU |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | A blog post on the 2019 general election involving trust, distrust and Brexit |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://ukandeu.ac.uk/trust-distrust-and-the-2019-general-election/ |
Description | Blog on LSE Eurocrisis |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | A blog for LSE's website on a recently published paper by Daniel Devine |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/eurocrisispress/2019/11/06/democracy-without-choice/ |
Description | Brexit panel, Harvard |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Panel on Brexit at Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Conference paper/presentation ('Trust and Trustworthiness in National and Global Governance'), World Association for Public Opinion Research |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | This conference paper and talk presented the framework and initial findings of the TrustGov project at the World Association of Public Opinion Research annual conference, to a mixed audience of academics and practitioners. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://wapor.org/wp-content/uploads/Toronto-2019-DRAFT-Program.pdf |
Description | Contribution (Jennings, Gaskell, Valgardsson) to Roundtable organised by the IPPR and the John Smith Centre 'How we can build trust in politics and public institutions' |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Members of the TrustGov team contributed to the Roundtable organised by the IPPR and the John Smith Centre, sharing key insights from the project and discussing issues relevant to the study of political trust. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Expert comment provided to the Financial Times (Devine) in relation to trust and vaccine hesitancy |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Insights from work of the TrustGov project on trust and vaccines shared with the Financial Times. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://www.ft.com/content/4346a3d4-57c8-42d4-ac78-faaaf72f0b94 |
Description | Informal seminar at Institute for Government |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Gave a seminar on trust at the Institute for Government as part of my secondment. Garnered insights to take forward for our research and ongoing partnership. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | International media interview, quoted in The Independent newspaper (estimated reach of 89 million) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | Interview given on public trust in politicians surrounding the 'partygate' scandal. Quoted in The Independent, estimated reach 89 million readers. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.independent.co.uk/independentpremium/editors-letters/boris-johnson-gaffes-partygate-vote... |
Description | Interview |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | I gave a media interview to BrutMedia, an international online media company. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://www.brut.media/uk/news/is-the-uk-really-democratic--3e390f5b-582d-4212-95ac-d9e35ddad6d4 |
Description | Interview for BBC News TV (estimated reach of over 50 million) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | Live TV interview (later clipped for the 6PM news) given about the Tiverton and Honiton by-election during the 'partygate' scandal, in the context of trust in politicians and how this relates to voting behaviour. An estimated reach of over 50 million viewers. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | Interview for international news, quoted and distributed by the Associated Press (reach of over 1 billion readers) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | Media interview given on the 'partygate' scandal in the UK relating to Boris Johnson and how it is influenced by (and damaging for) political trust. This was quoted in an article for Associated Press and distributed to hundreds of news channels across the globe, an estimated reach of over 1 billion readers. This led to further interviews and media appearances. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.marketbeat.com/articles/boris-johnson-reached-the-top-but-was-felled-by-his-flaws-2022-0... |
Description | Interview with Hannah Bunting on Greatest Hits Radio 'Can Boris win back trust after 'Partygate'?' |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Insights from the project on political trust were drawn on to understand public opinion in the wake of 'Partygate'. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://planetradio.co.uk/greatest-hits/devon/news/can-boris-win-back-trust-after-partygate/ |
Description | Lawrence McKay - Panelist on 'Winning England' webinar |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | ~ Invited by Prof John Denham as a panelist on webinar 'Winning England' ~ 80 attendees |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Lawrence McKay/Will Jennings - launch event for UK In A Changing Europe report Levelling Up: What England Thinks |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | ~450 attended for the launch event live and the YouTube stream left up after the event has accumulated 1.1k views ~ Team members made up 2 of the 4 person panel |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EE4FJXOeVjQ |
Description | Membership on panel (Edinburgh, International Book Festival) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Panel at international book festival in Edinburgh. Broad discussions with other panelists and public. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Moderator (Jennings) for an OECD webinar on political trust ('The Ties That Bind: Government Openness As Key Driver Of Trust') |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | A member of the TrustGov team (Jennings) moderated the webinar for the OECD ('The Ties That Bind: Government Openness As Key Driver Of Trust') which brought together leading practitioners and experts on the topic. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://trustgov.net/events/2020/9/11/the-ties-that-bind-government-openness-as-key-driver-of-trust |
Description | Panel on environment and nudge (LSE) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Talk on 'The Carbon Conscious Consumer: going beyond nudges with nudge plus'. Professor Stoker will address the wider necessity for not just individually driven change but also governmental action and how any action has to be backed up by trust in governance which often appears to be absent. Confronting trust issues is a crucial part of tackling climate change because policies often require short term loss ( for at least some) with the prospect of long-term gains. But can citizens trust government to stay the course and deal fairly with all interests? |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Podcast (Gaskell, Jennings, Stoker) for the Conversation hosted by Michelle Grattan and Mark Evans - 'Trust, democracy and COVID-19: A British perspective' |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | This podcast interview disseminated insights from the TrustGov project, both generally in relation to the state of trust in national and global governance, and with specific regard to the COVID-19 pandemic. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://theconversation.com/trust-democracy-and-covid-19-a-british-perspective-140844 |
Description | Podcast (Guardian) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | Podcast for The Guardian on the leader election debates |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://www.theguardian.com/politics/audio/2019/nov/20/when-johnson-met-corbyn-politics-weekly-podca... |
Description | Podcast (Jennings) with Politics JaM - 'Trust Issues with Will Jenning?s' |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Podcast interview sharing research findings on trust and how citizens make trust judgements. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/trust-issues-with-will-jennings/id1512260254?i=1000492480311 |
Description | Podcast (Jennings) with UK in a Changing Europe - 'Brexit and Beyond with Professor Will Jenning?s' |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Interview on the UKICE podcast where Jennings discussed the latest TrustGov report, highlighting key findings and insights for the audience. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://soundcloud.com/user-941630307/brexit-and-beyond-with-professor-will-jennings |
Description | Private briefing by Will Jennings to the House of Lords Committee on the Constitution |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | This was a private seminar held with the House of Lords Committee on the Constitution. Key insights from the research project were shared with policymakers (i.e. peers) to inform their planning of activities for the future parliamentary cycle. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Private webinar on political trust with the UN Foundation |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | The TrustGov team organised a private webinar in collaboration with the UN Foundation with the objective of sharing state of the art research with them. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Public lecture (LSE) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Public lecture with Michael Ignatieff at the LSE on the causes and consequences of populism. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Public lecture on trust by Will Jennings at Birkbeck, University of London |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Around 75 people watched the public lecture on trust and trustworthiness, disseminating research findings from the project and demonstrating their relevance to understanding contemporary events in British politics and society. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://www.bbk.ac.uk/events/remote_event_view?id=16411 |
Description | Public screening of the Trust in Crisis documentary as part of the ESRC Festival of Social Sciences |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | The screening of the documentary and Q&A filmmakers prompted a positive response from filmmakers and led to a member of the team presenting research to the local Fabian Society. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://trustgov.net/documentary-trust-in-crisis/2021/11/18/documentary-trust-in-crisis |
Description | Rethinking Democracy panel |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | One of the events for the release of the 'Rethinking Democracy' book. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Talk by Viktor Valgardsson on 'Declining Trust in Politics - Responding Locally and Nationally' to the Southampton Fabian Society |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | A talk about the research project to the local Fabian Society. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | TrustGov 1st Digital Conference ('Political Trust in Crisis', 22-23 October 2020) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | This online conference showcased the state of the art in research on political trust, and providing networking opportunities for early career researchers. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://trustgov.net/events/2020/10/22/2-day-digital-conference-political-trust-in-crisis |
Description | TrustGov 1st Digital Workshop (Monday, April 20, 2020) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | This TrustGov 1st Digital Workshop briefed leading experts in the field on the project's research agenda, as well as including further roundtables on the state of the field. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://trustgov.net/events/digital-workshop1 |
Description | TrustGov 2nd Digital Workshop: Government Performance and Trust (Monday, May 18, 2020) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | This 2nd TrustGov Digital Workshop hosted researchers working on government performance and trust, sharing their research ideas and evidence with leading academic experts in this field. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://trustgov.net/events/2020/5/18/digital-workshop-series-government-performance-and-trust |
Description | TrustGov 3rd Digital Workshop (Monday, June 22, 2020) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | This 3rd TrustGov Digital Workshop hosted researchers working on political trust and COVID-19, sharing their research ideas and evidence with other leading academic experts in this field. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://trustgov.net/events/2020/5/27/digital-workshop-series-covid-19-and-political-trust |
Description | TrustGov 4th Digital Workshop (Monday, July 27, 2020) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | This 4th TrustGov Digital Workshop hosted researchers working on measurement of trust and distrust, sharing their research ideas and evidence with other leading academic experts in this field. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://trustgov.net/events/2020/7/27/beyond-the-trust-distrust-dichotomy |