Trust in Authorities in Regional Society: Experience of Political and Sociological Analysis

Abstract

In the article, trust in the authorities is considered as a political and sociological category. The level of public confidence in the regional authorities of the Southern Federal District subjects, the Republic of Adyghe and the Krasnodar Territory, is empirically characterised. Based on the materials of a sociological study conducted by the authors in September -October 2021, citizens' degree of personal trust in authorities institutions is analysed. In general, the population cited the inefficiency of decisions and measures taken by regional authorities as the main reason for distrust of the authorities. Among other reasons, citizens called abuse of authorities, incompetence, low level of professionalism, the closeness of the authorities, insufficient informing of the population about the situation in the region and the measures taken, low moral level of the authorities. The data of the sociological study confirm a relatively low level of trust of citizens in regional institutions of authorities. Based on the assessments of the population, the main factors on which the level of trust in the authorities depends include: strengthening the personal responsibility of the heads of authorities; openness and transparency of the activities of authorities; taking into account public opinion when making decisions. A comparative analysis with the results of the 2020 study conducted using identical tools shows that the level of institutional trust in the regions has decreased slightly over the year.