6.3.3 Public Trust in Politicians
The legitimacy of a political system depends upon public trust in politicians as people who could and would deliver acceptable governance
As outlined in the Introduction to this book, a central aim of governance is that it should be acceptable to those it affects. In the Political Dimension of power, that requirement is a criterion for assessing the performance of politicians and political systems. As described at the start of this chapter (6.1.2), politicians act as intermediaries between the population and public servants. They must respond to the public’s wishes, take responsible decisions, and take management responsibility for the performance of public servants and employees of institutions. If people trust the government, they are more likely to comply with its requests – even if these are painful. Political dishonesty has undermined trust, though, as illustrated by several posts on this website.
Public trust in politicians has declined sharply in both America and Britain, as highlighted by two reports in 2022:
Pew Research reported in June 2022 that “Americans remain deeply distrustful of and dissatisfied with their government. Just 20% say they trust the government in Washington to do the right thing just about always or most of the time – a sentiment that has changed very little since former President George W. Bush’s second term in office.” (This compares to around 75% in the early 1960s with Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy, according to another Pew report).
Carnegie UK reported in January 2022 that “People see the biggest current threat to our democracy as a loss of trust (32%) followed by corruption (16%). 76% of the public in England don’t trust MPs to take decisions that will improve their lives, while 73% don’t trust the UK Government on the same measure. 46% of the public in England selected honesty and integrity as important values for the government to exemplify. Yet 61% do not believe that the current UK Government reflects these values at all, while 23% believe they ‘slightly’ reflect these values.”
Hannah Arendt, quoted by John Mearsheimer (among others), pointed out how distrust paves the way for authoritarian leaders:
“This constant lying is not aimed at making the people believe a lie, but at ensuring that no one believes anything anymore.
A people that can no longer distinguish between truth and lies cannot distinguish between right and wrong.
And such a people, deprived of the power to think and judge, is, without knowing and willing it, completely subjected to the rule of lies. With such a people, you can do whatever you want.”
Public trust in politicians is a key element of legitimacy in a political system. The following sub-sections itemise some criteria for the behaviour that people expect from their politicians:
● Politicians should listen to those they serve and be responsive (6.3.3.1). This is of prime importance, since they are the interface between the population and public services.
● They should be administratively competent, personally and in their choice of advisers (6.3.3.2). Public trust would be increased if people were better able to assess the performance of the politicians who serve them.
● Their behaviour should meet high standards (6.3.3.3). Dishonesty and sleaze are serious problems: undermining trust in politics and reducing the legitimacy of political governance.
● They should prioritise the public interest (6.3.3.4). Serving the public is more important than party politics or their own political careers.
● It is advisable to have political accountability for the performance of institutions, so that the public can have some influence over them (6.3.3.5). If the army has its own sources of income, as in Iran and Egypt for example, there is no political control over it – and that is a danger to democracy.
● Politicians must be able to communicate clearly and persuasively (6.3.3.6). They need to be able to negotiate effectively on behalf of those they represent, and they need to be able to explain policies.
Later sections in this chapter examine related questions:
● The pressure of trying to be popular, in politicians’ interactions with the public, tempts them to behave badly (6.4.2).
● The way that political donations affect political decision-making gives grounds for distrust (6.4.5).
● Safeguards are necessary to ensure that politicians behave responsibly (6.8.5).
The grossest failure of integrity – corruption – is dealt with in the next chapter (7.2.5).
This page is intended to form part of Edition 4 of the Patterns of Power series of books. An archived copy of it is held at https://www.patternsofpower.org/edition04/633d.htm.