Measuring Political Trust in a Modern Democracy

Abstract

Systematic review of articles on the problem of measuring political trust published in such authoritative scientific journals as “European Political Science Review”, “British Journal of Politics and International Relations”, “Parliamentary Affairs”, “Journal of Public Policy”, “Political Science Quarterly”, “Perspectives on Politics” and “International Journal of Public Opinion Research”, demonstrates considerable attention of scientists to the problem of political trust in a modern democracy and pursues as its goal the development of a methodological basis for political trust research. The methodology of the review on the problem of measuring political trust involves a comparative analysis of the results of studies in the field of assessing political trust. Among the main tasks of the article are: generalization of scientific approaches to political trust, development of methods for political trust measurements and its result interpretation, characterization of the crisis of trust in a modern democracy. The objectives of the study include identifying conceptual scientific works of Western scientists for the period 2011–2021, which allow tracing the modernization of ideas about the object of political trust, characterize the methods of measuring the level of political trust used in modern socio-political science, and reveal differences in the formation of moral and strategic trust. The differences in moral political trust, where trusting relationships are formed on the basis of the experience and personal interaction of subjects, and strategic trust, where political culture is formed and certain expectations that political leaders will make correct, rational decisions are based on fundamental ideas about the political an order where constant change forms personal and institutional ties. Measuring political trust, which is the basis of interaction between citizens and the state, is an issue of fundamental importance for characterizing the quality of democracy, and the rule of law is impossible without a high level of political trust.