Contemporary Changes In Trust By The U.s. Government And Its Influencing Factors

With the rapid development of economic globalization, the world politics, economy and society have undergone a tremendous change. Such a huge change has made people face increasingly complex social environment, and has brought about more uncertain, unreliable, unsafe and uncontrollable factors. This leads to the decline of social trust and questioned abilities of the government. Now, the world is experiencing a general crisis of confidence in the government. In the United States, Europe and other countries, The discussion on the lack of confidence and trust in government has become the focus of attention of the media and academics. Therefore, the issue of trust in government stands out. This paper deals with trust in the American government in separate four sections.In Part One, the author outlines the theory of trust in government. First ,the concepts of trust and trust in government were given ,and explains the relations between social trust and trust in government .Secondly, analysises the possibility and necessity of public's trust to government ,and the purpose of trust is to win public's support to the government .In Part Two, the author explores the situation of the trust in American government. Trust in the contemporary American government is full of fluctuations, but the overall downward trend is obvious due to many factors.In Part Three , the author analysises the factors that affect trust in government from the aspects of government, public and environment. The first factor is the government—the object of trust. With the progress of democracy, government operation models have been reformed in order to meet the needs of the changing environment. Government performance, one of the key indicators for measuring public satisfaction, is in proportion to the level of public trust in the government. Political elites have an important impact on trust in the government. The ability and morality of politicians or leaders have a bearing on the level of public trust in the government. The second factor is the citizens—the subject of trust. In a growing civil society, a higher demand is imposed upon by the general public with better education and more knowledge and high ability in participation. Meanwhile, values, interests, expectations and perception of the public all have a direct impact on the trust in government. Furthermore, different ages and class backgrounds also affect trust in the government. The third factor is the environment of trust in the government. Globalization has a wide and deep effect on nations and societies. The political culture of conservatism in America is one of the long-term factors which influence trust in the government. And the mass media also plays an important role which can't be overlooked.In Part Four, the author introduces three ways to improve trust of government including , changing roles ,building a service government ; building a disinterested and trustworthy government ; and building partnership with government the best way to restore trust .