DEVELOPMENT

2.8
Public assessments of the state’s development
and trust in government institutions
Juhan Kivirähk, Marju Lauristin
The basis of representative democracy is trust. Ordinary
citizens do not have to, or even wish to, deal with problems
related to the functioning of the state on an everyday
basis – they delegate the representation of their interests
to representative political bodies. Although the activities
of states’ governments are assessed on the basis of various
indicators (including democracy indices), one of the main
components of good governance is the existence of a bond
of trust with the citizens.
Of course, trust can also exist without the involvement
of the citizens and without providing them with the
opportunity to participate – this depends on the political
culture of the specific country, the citizenry’s levels of
education, organisation and readiness to participate in
the development of the society. Today, the majority of
democratic societies have reached a stage of development
where information technology provides the citizens with
the opportunity to stay updated on what’s going on in
the country and to express their opinions. The society
members’ levels of information and awareness have grown
significantly; and the need and wish to participate in the
state’s development has increased. If governments do not
make a sufficient effort to involve the citizenry in policymaking,
and do not take their opinions into consideration,
this can lead to a protest mentality, and a declining
of trust in state authority. Of course, the situation is exacerbated
by the fact that people’s socio-economic wellbeing
worsens when uncertainty deepens about whether the
bodies of power can cope with their assignments. If, in
this situation, the bodies of power have an understanding
of democracy that is limited to obtaining an authorisation
of power, and feedback (reporting to, and communications
with, the electorate) is reduced to only regular elections,
political trust will start to erode.
2.8.1
Trust in state governance in Estonia and
other European states
The trust in state institutions among the citizens of the
European Union Member States is regularly examined by
the Eurobarometer.
The level of satisfaction with the state’s general developmental
trends is low in almost all of the EU states (slightly
positive assessments can be found only Austria and Denmark);
however, in Finland, the Netherlands, Austria and
Denmark, trust in the state’s leading political institutions
is significantly higher than in the other states under observation.
It is noteworthy that the institutions that are closer
to the citizenry, with which a personal contact exists (local
bodies of power), are trusted more in all the states.
Figure 2.8.1
Trust in institutions, autumn 2012
Government Parliament Local government
Percentage
Finland
Austria
Netherlands
Denmark
Estonia
Slovakia
Hungary
Lithuania
Ireland
Latvia
Slovenia
Czech Rep.
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Percentage 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Source: Eurobarometer 78
When comparing the old and new democracies
(Figure 2.8.1.), we notice different patterns of trust, as
well as various levels of trust. In the Nordic countries,
with their strong democratic traditions, as well as in
Austria and the Netherlands, trust in the parliament is
higher than in the government, and there is no sharp
difference between the trust in power at the national and
local levels. At the same time, in Estonia, as in the other
post-Communist countries, as a rule, trust in the local
governments is much greater than in the institutions at
the national level, whereas, there is more trust in the
govern ment than in the parliament.
If, in Finland and Denmark, over 60% of the respondents
trust the parliament, in Estonia, only a third of the
Estonian Human Development Report 2012/2013
95