Globalisation and political trust: Evidence of a nuanced relationship

While globalisation has long been studied as a driver of economic change and political realignment, its implications for political trust remain underexplored. Existing research has highlighted how international trade, capital flows, and cross-border information exchange affect electoral behaviour, party competition, and satisfaction with democracy. Yet, little is known about whether and how globalisation influences citizens' trust in political institutions and actors. This paper addresses this gap by investigating the relationship between globalisation and political trust in European democracies. We combine individual-level data from the European Social Survey with country-level indicators of economic, political, and social globalisation from the KOF Globalisation Index. We exploit variation in exposure to globalisation during individuals’ formative years and estimate models with country-by-survey wave fixed effects. Our results suggest that different dimensions of globalisation have nuanced effects on trust in politicians, political parties, and national parliaments. There is no evidence that globalisation systematically erodes political trust. Instead, the relationship appears to be context-dependent, differing by historical experience and regional background. These findings contribute to broader debates on democratic legitimacy and resilience by shedding light on how global integration shapes core political attitudes.