Political trust in France’s multi-level government

International audienceTrust has long been identified as an essential component of social, economic and political life. Since the mid-1990s, there has been renewed interest in the concept driven by its perceived declineand reengagement with concepts of social capital. The article acknowledges these debates, especially the general context ofdecline in trust in western democracies, including in France, ourcountry case. It is framed to answer a more parsimoniousquestion, however. The analysis developed within the paperconsiders political trust within multiple layers of government at asingle point and therefore provides a clearer picture of howcitizens engage with complex governance arrangements wherethe primary responsibility for specific policy areas is often unclear.While attempts to measure or evaluate levels of political trusthave generally been applied to the local or national level or,within the European context, the EU level, the article breaks newground, by looking at how political trust varies within a multi-levelgovernmental system. This article, which reports findings from amajor nationwide survey of trust in France, concludes that distinctlogics of institutional orders matter more for political trust thansocio-demographic explanations