Theory of Transnational Markets and Civil Society IV

Claims that democracies such as Australia, Japan and the USA are facing a crisis of citizen trust have grown louder and more widespread in recent years. Fewer and fewer people in democracies seem to trust politicians, political processes and political institutions. Without sufficient levels of trust, so the arguments go, citizens will withdraw from political engagement and governments will have difficulty convincing citizens to comply with public policies. All of this seems to add up to trouble for contemporary democracies, which rely on political cooperation between strangers and public acceptance of the legitimacy of government processes and policies. But is trust in political actors, processes and institutions actually declining in democracies? What do researchers mean when they talk about political trust and distrust? How have they gone about measuring trust and distrust? Even if trust is declining, is that necessarily a bad thing for democracies? Or should we be pleased that citizens are taking a more skeptical view of politicians who do not deserve to be trusted? If declining trust is bad for democracies, what can be done to increase it? Is political distrust more common among some types of citizens (for example, the young) than others?

This postgraduate seminar will explore these questions in a comparative way, focusing on political trust and distrust in democracies in the Pacific region, inclduing Australia, Japan and America. The seminar is divided into four main sections. In the first section, we will explore debates around the definition and concept of trust. In the second section, we will look at recent debates about the relationship between trust, distrust and democracy. In the third section, we will look at empirical studies of citizen trust and its relationship with other political attitudes and behaviours. In the final section, we will look at whether anything can be done to strengthen democracies by increasing levels of political trust, or by directing existing political distrust into healthier forms of skepticism. Please note that we can spend more or less time on each of these four sections according to students’ interests.

Students will engage with these topics via seminar discussions based on academic readings and other source material about political trust and distrust in contemporary democracies. Discussions will compare Australia, the USA, Japan, as well as any other democracies in the Asia-Pacific region that students are particularly interested in. The course will provide an English language teaching environment designed to encourage development of academic reading, writing and analysis skills in English.

Students who complete this course should:
•have an understanding of current debates about trust, distrust and democracy
•be familiar with some methods of comparing democracies
•be familiar with some methods of measuring trust and distrust
•have some knowledge of how trust in Australia compares with other Asia-Pacific democracies.
•be able to undertake written and spoken political analysis in English.