Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.20901/an.19.04
Institutional Trust and Economic Attitudes: Exploring Their Relationship in Croatia
Bartul Vuksan-Ćusa
orcid.org/0000-0002-5158-9164
; Department of Political Science Central European University, Vienna, Austria
Andrija Henjak
orcid.org/0000-0003-4783-5796
; Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
Institutional trust is a frequent topic of empirically oriented political science, although it is rarely linked to views on economics. Bearing in mind the theoretical background of the concept of trust in institutions, which points to its connection primarily with protectionist economic attitudes, this study recognizes the need for a more detailed analysis of the assumed relationship. The study starts from the perspective from which protectionism can be interpreted as a normative expectation of protection on a diffuse level, which, contrary to the current theory, can be associated with low levels of institutional trust. This supposition was tested on the basis of survey data from 2015 and 2016 in Croatia. It is shown that protectionism and institutional trust are negatively correlated. The effects of authoritarianism, social trust, sociotropic evaluations of the economy and partisanship on trust in institutions are also evident. Therefore, this study testifies to the need to differentiate between different levels of support in analyzing the relationship between institutional trust and protectionism, providing a new direction for this growing research niche.
Keywords
institutional trust; economic attitudes; protectionism; authoritarianism; social trust
Hrčak ID:
284409
URI
Publication date:
14.12.2022.
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