Trust in a crisis: Trust in Parliament, the police, politicians and the president of Iceland following the collapse

Abstract

Grave changes took place in institutional trust in Iceland in the wake of the economic crisis. The Icelandic Parliament was one of the institutions that lost the most public confidence. At the same time, however, as confidence in the Parliament subsided, confidence in the police increased. A question is put forth of whether the public, in the face of disappointment with the performance of many political institutions, increased its confidence in other types of institutions believed to defend either their personal or societal interests in a better way. Previous research on trust and its origins is discussed. Two theoretical schools are compared, one that emphasizes the impact of political culture on trust and another that emphasizes institutional performance. Both schools are utilized to formulate hypotheses about changes in institutional trust and its relationship with various demographic variables. Measures of institutional trust towards some key institutions playing a vital role in the crisis and its aftermath is reported: the parliament, the police, the president and politicians. The relationship of institutional trust with education, income, financial distress, and support for particular parties and the government is compared between the four institutions. Results from a survey conducted by Capacent in October 2012 show that the above institutions to some extent represented different interests and attitudes that emerged in the crash and its aftermath.