A Mistrustful Society?
The Lack of Trust in Government Institutions in the Czech Republic
in The International Journal of Social Quality
Abstract
The level of trust in politicians also in government institutions is taken as an indicator of the state of society in general. Various studies have shown that the population of the Central Eastern European countries, and especially the citizens of the Czech Republic, lack trust in state institutions and democratic structures. The trust of the Czech population in government institutions is, compared to other (Western) European countries, at a relatively low level. This article aims to discuss different factors that are currently influencing this lack of trust: the historical, cultural, and institutional. The empirical data for this article is based on the European Values Study and Czech surveys of public opinion concerning trust in government institutions.
Contributor Notes
Nicole Horáková works as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Ostrava, Czech Republic. After her studies at the Johannes-Gutenberg University in Mainz and the Free University of Berlin, she started her academic career in the Czech Republic. She completed her PhD at the Institute of Intercultural Education and Migration (IMIS) at the University of Osnabrück and then began to work at the University of Ostrava, where she founded the Department of Sociology in 2013. In her research, she deals with migration issues, changing forms of employment, and postindustrial societies and their identities. Email: nicole.horakova@osu.cz