A Mistrustful Society?

Abstract

The level of trust in politicians also in government institutions is taken as an indicator of the state of society in general. Various studies have shown that the population of the Central Eastern European countries, and especially the citizens of the Czech Republic, lack trust in state institutions and democratic structures. The trust of the Czech population in government institutions is, compared to other (Western) European countries, at a relatively low level. This article aims to discuss different factors that are currently influencing this lack of trust: the historical, cultural, and institutional. The empirical data for this article is based on the European Values Study and Czech surveys of public opinion concerning trust in government institutions.

Exploring COVID-19 conspiracy theories: education, religiosity, trust in scientists, and political orientation in 26 European countries

“…Primarily, a salient factor is the diminished confidence level in governmental bodies and institutional entities, precipitated by a hesitance to unquestioningly embrace the official government perspective. This scepticism subsequently engenders a proclivity among the populace to subscribe to alternative narratives, manifesting as the propagation and acceptance of CTs 37 , 38 .…”

Beyond a Czech-The-Box Exercise: Proposals for Meaningful Stakeholder Participation in the Just Transition

“…Therefore, the country holds a position of dependency characteristic of the semi-periphery, particularly concerning the coal mining regions. The key characteristics of such dependency are the lack of economic and political power, along with a symptomatic lack of trust in public institutions (Horáková 2020), which can undermine people's confidence in both the processes and outcomes of just transition. The workforce in the affected industries directly bears the costs in terms of potential job losses and the economic decline of the whole region.…”

“…The Czech Republic serves as a vivid example of such a country, combining remarkable socio-economic dependence on coal extraction and car manufacturing (Gažo et al 2022;Sivek et al 2020), often concentrated in long-term structurally disadvantaged regions (Frantál et al 2022), with weaker trust in public institutions and policies (Horáková 2020). Just transition in this context is thus urgent (European Commission 2023), sometimes hotly debated (Galgoczi 2019), yet not successfully implemented.…”