ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the relationship between perceived corruption, political cynicism, life satisfaction, and various aspects of trust (mostly focusing on political trust) in the post-communist societies of Central and Eastern Europe. The chapter provides an overview of the previously published studies, and reports in more detail a case study of political trust and its correlates in Latvia, a post-communist country with one of the lowest political trust levels in Europe. Mechanisms leading to the currently observed low levels of political trust in post-communist societies are discussed, along with the vicious cycle of low political trust and political cynicism that hampers the development of social capital in these societies. The chapter highlights some of the possible mechanisms based on the existing theory and research for breaking this vicious cycle.
