Building Trust to Reinforce Democracy

                 This post is a summary of the book with the title above published in July 2022 at https://read.oecd-ilibrary.org/governance/building-trust-to-reinforce-democracy_b407f99c-en#page1

                  The inaugural OECD Survey on the Drives of Trust in Public Institutions (Trust Survey) is a new measurement tool for democratic governments seeking to improve public confidence in government reliability, responsiveness, integrity, fairness and openness. Twenty-two OECD countries volunteered to participate. Trust is an important indicator to measure how people perceive the quality of, and how they associate with, government institutions in democratic countries. The resilience of democratic systems comes from the open public debate they foster, enabling them to improve and meet increasing citizens expectations. Overall, the results show that OECD countries are performing reasonably well on average on many measures of governance, such as citizens' perceptions of government reliability, service provision, and data openness. A key factor distinguishing democracy from other forms of governments is equal opportunities for representation. Many people see equal access to political processes as falling short of their expectations. Public perceptions of government integrity are also an issue. Just under half of respondents on average, think a high-level political official would grant a political favour in exchange for the offer of a well-paid private sector job. These feelings of disempowerment, a lack of voice in policy making, and the sense that political officials are captive to undue influence, are compounded by persistent, underlying inequalities in society. There is a widespread sense that democratic government is working for some, but certainly not for all. Low levels of trust in government and public institutions are also related to perceptions of vulnerability and being left behind economically, socially and politically. A tangible indicator of government reliability lies in the provision of social protection and educational opportunities. OECD governments devote a massive amount of resources to providing health and education: countries spent around 5.6% and 3.4% of GDP, respectively, on average. 61.7% of respondents, on average, say they are satisfied with their country's healthcare system. Respondents are similarly positive about education: 57.6% say they are satisfied with their country's educational system. People who perceive governmental information to be open and transparent also have higher levels of trust in government. Indeed, on average across countries, among those who find information about administrative processes easily available, 50,8% have trust in national government. Trust in public institutions is derived from factors beyond the conventional measures of service quality, suggesting that attention should be paid not only to performance, but also to processes. Public sector integrity is a key element of democratic governance and fundamental for a system that has the ambition to work in the same way for everyone. Corruption and mismanagement in the public sector are cited among the most important sources of distrust. While ethical behaviour and the absence of corruption is associated with greater trust. The rule of law is one of the cornerstone of the democratic governance and trust in legal and justice services matters for trust in government, too, by providing citizens with recourse mechanisms to protect their rights. These protection mechanisms create safeguards against possible misbehaviour and integrity in the justice sector is thus essential for trust in fellow citizens, businesses and other public institutions. The Trust Survey shows that citizens' overall trust in the judiciary is relatively high: on average 59.6% of respondents say they trust the courts and legal system. Perceptions are most positive in Denmark, Ireland, and the Netherlands. A fundamental feature of democracy is the concept of political voice. Political participation is a cornerstone of a well-functioning democracy. Political participation strengthens democracies both at the individual and systemic level: when people actively engage, they develop stronger democratic values and civic skills, and at the same time provide legitimacy to the system. In turn, participation and trust are mutually reinforcing. Civic-minded citizens are found to participate more. Trust can be considered as a prerequisite of political action, and is related to higher levels of different forms of participation, such as being part of elections, contacting government officials or being part of political parties. Lack of representation and low levels of trust in national legislatures usually go together with lower levels of accountability, corroding the basis of democracy and resulting in policies which are less responsive to the interests of a broad public. In addition to feeling like they do not have opportunities to influence policies and be heard, many respondents question the integrity of elected and appointed officials and whether they fairly represent the will of the people. On average 47.8% of respondents say it is likely that a high-level political official would grant a political favour in exchange for the offer of the prospect of a well-paid job in the private sector. Norway is the only country in which the share of respondents believing in the ethical behaviour of high-level officials is higher than the share of sceptical respondents. People who feel their political and government institutions do not treat them fairly may become cynical and distrust their government. Institutions can lessen this distrust. Countries' efforts to give people effective voice and strengthen the representation of collective interests. Access to accurate information is a key component of democracy and a foundation of current events, followed by newspapers (including online). News consumption is fairly high. Yet it is important to note that these news are operating in an environment of high scepticism towards the media. Only 38.8% of respondents, on average, say that they trust the news media