ABSTRACT
This book evolved from a workshop entitled ‘Has trust in government and confidence in public services been eroded?’ which was hosted in October 2009 by the Herbert Simon Institute for Public Policy and Management at Manchester Business School, University of Manchester. Many contributors to this volume were participants at this workshop, where there was intense debate on many complex issues. In this book we garner arguments and evidence to address some of these contentious issues, such as: What is trust? Is trust different from confidence? Does trust depend on shared values and confidence in performance? Does it make sense to speak about trusting institutions (such as governments) or can we only trust people we know? Does public trust matter for the business of government and the delivery of public services—for example, does declining trust correlate with loss of democratic values and/or tax avoidance? Does transparency (e.g. the provision of information and public inquiries) about the performance of governments and public services increase trust and confidence? Can trust be augmented through regulation? Is trust emergent in networks? What role does leadership and management play in building trust?
