2025/03/13 by Monika Bauhr, Nicholas Charron · 1 voice · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #Corruption and Economic Development
paper · doi:10.4337/9781802201406.00025
openalex publication_date 2025/03/13 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/02
This chapter reviews the literature on how the exercise of government power, and in particular the level of corruption, influences citizens’ political trust. We find that macro-level studies suggest that corruption, and institutional performance more broadly, is a highly salient factor in predicting trust levels, particularly in liberal democracies. We also review micro-level evidence for the important feedback loops where citizens’ lack of political trust also contributes to maintaining corrupt politicians in power, particularly since it undermines civic and electoral engagement and produces a general disenchantment with democratic institutions. This literature suggests that citizens with lower trust tend to abstain from voting altogether, which helps perpetuate a ‘vicious cycle’ of corruption. Finally, we demonstrate how variations in corruption and quality of government across Europe can explain why traditional predictors of trust, such as education levels, political ideology, and partisanship, influence trust levels in some contexts as opposed to others.