Trust and Confidence in Government in Transitional Democracies: South Korea in Comparative Perspective

Abstract

Democracy has emerged as the leading political system in the post cold war world. While liberal democracy has no real rivals, however, political distrust and the growth of 'critical', 'disaffected' citizenry are the troubling reality of contemporary democracies everywhere. Studies show that over the past decades a loss of confidence in government and public institutions is almost a universal phenomenon. Citizens in most of the democracies have become less satisfied with their political institutions than they were decades before. (Nye, Zelikow, and King, 1997; Norris, 1999; pharr and Putnam, 2000) Confjdence in government has declined in many countries in the old, established democracies, as well as the new, nascent democracies. Trust, confidence, and satisfaction in politics are widely held intimately connected to the effectiveness of democratic government and the durability of democratic institutions. (Putnam, 1993; Fukuyama, 1995; Warren, 1999)