A political story of political trust: Institutional settings, political performance, and political trust in East Asia

Political trust is indispensable for effective government operation and regime stability. The endemic low levels of political trust observed in many democracies have raised some important questions: Why do people trust or distrust political institutions? What are the sources of political trust? Literature on political trust is extensive, but generally suffers from two common limitations. First, most studies on trust have focused on either political culture or political economy as the main sources of political trust. The real political sources of trust have been missing from current discussions. Second, most research on political trust excludes nondemocratic societies. The high levels of political trust in authoritarian societies have been treated as an anomaly.;This dissertation attempts to address these two issues by studying the political sources of political trust in both democratic and authoritarian regimes. I argue that people trust institutions when they perceive institutions trustworthy. Trustworthiness arises from the commitment and capacity of institutions, and it is shaped by the political context of institutional arrangements. In other words, citizens trust institutions when they believe that institutions are committed to and capable of fulfilling their trust, and their perceptions of institutions are conditioned by institutional arrangements.;To explore the political sources of political trust, I have used multilevel analyses with comparative data from East Asian societies and other countries. The statistical results highlight the significant effects of institutional settings and political performance. On the one hand, institutional features such as regime types, party systems, executive systems, and party allegiance that individuals are embedded in shape the way they trust institutions. On the other hand, institutional political performance consistently showed strong influence on the levels of political trust in different regimes and settings. By bringing political factors back into equation, I hope my dissertation will help provide a more comprehensive understanding of political trust.