Preface Introduction: The Decline of Confidence in Government Joseph S. Nye, Jr. PART ONE: The Scope and Performance of Government The Evolving Scope of Government Ernest R. May Measuring the Performance of Government Derek Bok Fall from Grace: The Public's Loss of Faith in Government Gary Orren PART TWO: The Menu of Explanations Is It Really the Economy Stupid? Robert Z. Lawrence Social and Cultural Causes of Dissatisfaction with U.S. Government Jane Manbridge The Polarization of American Parties and Mistrust of Government David C. King The Politics of Mistrust Richard E. Neustadt PART THREE: Data on Public Attitudes toward Governance Changing Attitudes in America Robert J. Blendon, John M. Benson, Richard Morin, Drew E. Altman, Mollyann Brodie, Mario Brossard, And Matt James Postmaterialist Values and the Erosion of Institutional Authority Ronald Inglehart Public Trust and Democracy in Japan Susan J. Pharr Conclusion: Reflections, Conjectures, and Puzzles Joseph S. Nye, Jr., and Philip D. Zelikow Notes Contributors Index

Why people don't trust government

While studies have explored how health sector corruption, weak healthcare system, large-scale immune compromised population, misinformation and prevalence of highly congested slums contribute to the spread of COVID-19 in Nigeria, they have glossed over the impact of political distrust on the spread of the virus. This study explores the impact of political distrust on the spread of COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria. The study utilised qualitative dominant mixed methods approach comprising telephone interviews and a survey of 120 educated Nigerians purposively selected from four COVID-19 most affected states including Lagos, Oyo, Kano and Rivers as well as the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The study also relied on secondary data on the spread of COVID-19 in Nigeria sourced from Nigeria Centre for Diseases Control from 27 February to 31st August 2020. The study found that political corruption motivates large-scale political distrust. This undermines public compliance to government protocols, limits the outcomes of government responses to COVID-19 and facilitates the spread of the virus in Nigeria. The paper concludes that improving government accountability in the public sector management is relevant for building public trust, promoting citizens' compliance to COVID-19 safety measure and mitigating the spread of the pandemic in Nigeria and beyond.

Political distrust and the spread of COVID-19 in Nigeria.

On the basis of Karl Popper’s Three Worlds Theory, a theoretical approach to landscape can be derived, which includes the physical foundations of landscape (Landscape 1), the individual construction and emotions drawn from and placed upon landscape (Landscape 2), and social conventions regarding landscape (Landscape 3). These three landscape dimensions are connected via Landscape 2, which also provides an approach for the systematic investigation of the relations between the dimensions. Ralf Dahrendorf’s conflict theory in turn serves as a theoretical framework for when the different connections develop in a conflictual way and how these can be regulated. Dahrendorf sees a principled productivity of conflicts, providing they are settled fairly. On the basis of the conditions he has developed for just such a conflict settlement, the implementation of the energy system transformation is examined against the background of its consequences for the landscape, with the result that essential conditions for an orderly settlement of conflicts are not fulfilled, thereby contributing to the polarization of society.

/pdf/landscape-conflicts-a-theoretical-approach-based-on-the-3mo898vbns.pdf

Landscape Conflicts—A Theoretical Approach Based on the Three Worlds Theory of Karl Popper and the Conflict Theory of Ralf Dahrendorf, Illustrated by the Example of the Energy System Transformation in Germany

Qualitative Sozialforschung – Ein Arbeitsbuch.

Trotz allgemein hoher Zustimmung zur Energiewende mehren sich die Proteste gegen ihre Umsetzungsprojekte, allen voran gegen Windkraftanlagen. Parallel dazu hat sich in den letzten Jahren mit der Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD) eine Partei im politischen System Deutschlands etabliert, die nicht nur durch ihre rechtspopulistischen Haltungen in Bezug auf die Fluchtlingsdebatte auffallt, sondern sich auch offen gegen die Energiewende und den weiteren Ausbau von erneuerbaren Energien, in hohem Mase Windkraftanlagen, positioniert. Eine eigene bundesweit durchgefuhrte Reprasentativbefragung im Dezember 2016 hat ergeben, dass rund 44 % derjenigen, die die Energiewende ablehnen, der AfD im Falle einer Bundestagswahl ihre Stimme geben wurden. Zwar zeigen sich bei genauerer Betrachtung der Argumente von Burgerinitiativen und dem Programm der AfD nur wenige inhaltliche Uberschneidungen. Parallelen werden jedoch sichtbar, wenn man die Vorgehensweisen und Argumente auf ihren populistischen Gehalt hin uberpruft.

Bürgerinitiativen gegen Windkraftanlagen und der Aufschwung rechtspopulistischer Bewegungen

Bürgerproteste in Zeiten der Energiewende: Lokale Konflikte um Windkraft, Stromtrassen und Fracking

Zusammenfassung Obwohl die Energiewende als gesellschaftlicher Konsens gilt, nehmen lokale Proteste gegen Energiewendeprojekte zu. Doch welche Auswirkungen haben diese Proteste auf das soziale Gefuge in den Regionen? Wer beansprucht in diesen lokalen Konflikten, das Gemeinwohl zu vertreten? Diese Fragen werden im vorliegenden Artikel empirisch auf der Grundlage von zwei Fallstudien zu den Themenbereichen Stromtrassenbau und Windenergie diskutiert. Vor allem wird auf die Konfliktlinie der Allgemeinwohlvertretung sowie auf regionale Konfliktlinien eingegangen. Dabei werden die Sichtweisen aller beteiligten Akteure sowie der betroffenen, aber nicht aktiven Bevolkerung berucksichtigt. Es wird gezeigt, dass es in den Konflikten um mehr geht als um das spezifische Projekt, das verhindert werden soll. Vielmehr wird, eingebunden in lokale Konfliktlinien, der Vertretungsanspruch des Gemeinwohls verhandelt. Summary: While the „Energiewende“ is a national and moreover global topic, the actual increasing conflicts ar...

https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/180138/1/vjh.85.4.041.pdf

(De-)zentrale Energiewende und soziale Konflikte: Regionale Konflikte um die Vertretung des Gemeinwohls

We can observe a well-documented decline of trust levels in Western societies: from the reputation of political representatives as being "not trustworthy" to the rise of anti-system-oriented populist parties. Yet the implications of different forms of distrust for a society and democratic institutions have been theorized in conflicting ways so far. In order to illuminate existing inconsistencies in social and democratic theory, this article addresses two research questions: What are the implications of different manifestations of distrust for the acceptance of democracy and democratic institutions? How do different forms of distrust affect the motivation to become engaged in democratic decision-making and in civil society institutions? Taking empirical evidence from 25 focus groups in Germany, our findings show that growing social divisions affect the role distrust plays for political interest representation of social groups and for the acceptance of liberal representative democracy.

https://tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/19460171.2019.1584120

Sören Messinger-Zimmer

Papers

Bürgerproteste in Zeiten der Energiewende: Lokale Konflikte um Windkraft, Stromtrassen und Fracking

(De-)zentrale Energiewende und soziale Konflikte: Regionale Konflikte um die Vertretung des Gemeinwohls

Undermining or defending democracy? The consequences of distrust for democratic attitudes and participation

13. Bürgerproteste in Zeiten der Energiewende Ein Fazit in neun Thesen

12. Heimat Die Reaktivierung eines Kampfbegriffes