ABSTRACT
This chapter reflects on the politics of trust in Northeast Asia. Political trust is reflected in support for political institutions and is a pro-democratic value, although not a pre-requisite for democracy. In Northeast Asia, though, political trust rates are higher in well-performing authoritarian regimes than in the democratic regimes of the region. Moreover, over the past few years, Northeast Asia has witnessed a resurgence of nationalism, skepticism towards democratic pluralism, the emergence of autocratic leadership and the reactivation of conflicts regarding the historical past and memories between Japan and Korea and China. These undermine and challenge the notion that economic interdependence and frequent exchanges of people and goods lead to peace, stability and consequently mutual trust. This chapter pays particular attention to the state of mistrust within and between Japan and South Korea in order to highlight the role of trust in the region and integrative agendas for it.
