Economic crisis, social disinvestment and trust in political institutions

Trust in political institutions is an integral component of societal cohesion. Institutional trust is essential to maintaining legitimacy of the democratic institutions and support for political reforms across European societies. The recent economic and financial crisis of 2008-2009 and the austerity policies that followed have contributed to the rising inequality within and between European countries. Although some European societies have proven to be more resilient to the effects of the crisis, many others have experienced rapid economic and social decline. Furthermore, policy responses adopted by a number of countries to counteract the consequences of the crisis have resulted in severe cuts in social expenditures further contributing to the decline in well-being and trust of their citizens. This policy brief summarizes the main findings of the RE-InVEST report titled "Economic crisis, vulnerability and institutional trust". All the analyses were based on the individual survey data from the European Social Survey (ESS) covering the period from 2002 to 2012