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The impact of associational life on trust in local institutions: a comparison of 57 Swiss municipalities

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  • Markus Freitag
  • Maya Ackermann

Abstract

In this paper, we evaluate the impact of associational life on individual political trust in 57 Swiss municipalities. Our hierarchical regression models show that individual political trust is not only affected by individual associational membership but also by the exchange between associations and local political authorities in a community. In other words, if political authorities and associations are linked at the community level, citizens will place more trust in their local institutions. Furthermore, we find clear evidence for the rainmaker hypothesis: our results show that the positive effect of a vibrant connection between associational life and local politics on political trust is not solely confined to the associational members themselves, but rather indicate that the structure of the local civic culture fosters political trust among members and non-members at the same time. However, the internal democratic processes of associations have no effect on individuals’ trust in local political institutions.

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  • Markus Freitag & Maya Ackermann, 2016. "The impact of associational life on trust in local institutions: a comparison of 57 Swiss municipalities," Local Government Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(4), pages 616-636, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:flgsxx:v:42:y:2016:i:4:p:616-636
    DOI: 10.1080/03003930.2016.1154846
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    Cited by:

    1. Hans Pitlik & Martin Rode, 2021. "Radical Distrust: Are Economic Policy Attitudes Tempered by Social Trust?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 158(2), pages 485-506, December.

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