Have you seen the papers lately? It’s filled with horrible stories about bankers getting huge bonuses while their bank is almost bankrupt, about young people who can’t get a job and politicians who are being sued because of their unethical behavior. ‘I wish we could back to the old days’, people sigh. ‘Back to the time when we could trust our politicians.’

And this is a sentiment politicians like to use for their own gain. With promises they are trustworthy and the one who can restore trust in the system. They like to point out that the trust in politics is very low, but is that really true? According to Paul Dekker, professor of Civil Society at Tilburg University and Head of the Participation and Government research unit of the Netherlands Institute for Social Research (SCP), our trust in politics is not in an alarming all time low as many columnists or Zeitgeist commenters like to let us think.

‘When Fortuyn became popular in 2001/2 and his party came into the government,  the percentages of people who trust the government were strongly decreasing. That went on more or less till 2004 In 2005 the percentage of trust in politics increased again and now it fluctuates. When you compare it with other countries trust in government is still high in the Netherlands. Next to that, you must also look at the change of words we use. Nowadays we use more radical words than we would twenty years ago. Instead of not being content, now when something happens we are outraged.’

But if we still have faith in our government, why are so many people stating we don’t? Paul: ‘I am not sure, but it is part of the collective self-perception. The public empathy is quite low in the country in recent years. When you point out a problem long enough, more people will recognize it as a problem. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. If we all assume that people do not trust, we create a climate of distrust in which it is inevitable to be suspicious yourself.’

Blog by: Jolene Meijerink