Trust, discretion and arbitrariness in democratic politics
Democratic institutions and practice depend on trust, in two ways. Citizens must trust each other to abide by shared rules and norms that together govern a political community; it is a feature of democratic states that they direct their resources not to enforcement of rule abidingness, but rather to...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Rosenberg & Sellier
2018-08-01
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| Series: | Rivista di Estetica |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journals.openedition.org/estetica/3518 |
| _version_ | 1828378311284228096 |
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| author | Patti Tamara Lenard |
| author_facet | Patti Tamara Lenard |
| author_sort | Patti Tamara Lenard |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Democratic institutions and practice depend on trust, in two ways. Citizens must trust each other to abide by shared rules and norms that together govern a political community; it is a feature of democratic states that they direct their resources not to enforcement of rule abidingness, but rather towards providing collective and public goods. Instead, states rely on the semi-voluntary compliance of citizens with these shared norms and laws. Citizens must also trust their political representatives, who via their election are granted discretion to make decisions that will have significant impact on the lives of those they represent. Yet, according to many scholars across many disciplines, this trust is at risk of being undermined, if it hasn’t yet been so. The possible reasons for weakened and broken trust are many, ranging from escalating wealth inequalities, to increasing cultural and ethnic diversity, to political incompetence of both voters and political representatives, to corruption among political representatives. In this article, I examine the trust that underpins the discretion accorded to elected representatives, to identify when the improper use of this discretion may reasonably be thought to be a source of distrust. In particular, I argue that where discretion is used arbitrarily, it may threaten to undermine the trust relations between citizens and their representatives, and therefore the efficient and effective running of democratic states. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-14T08:25:13Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-51352b5ac598419c9f6b84cde8ff377f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0035-6212 2421-5864 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-14T08:25:13Z |
| publishDate | 2018-08-01 |
| publisher | Rosenberg & Sellier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Rivista di Estetica |
| spelling | doaj.art-51352b5ac598419c9f6b84cde8ff377f2022-12-22T02:04:06ZengRosenberg & SellierRivista di Estetica0035-62122421-58642018-08-01688310410.4000/estetica.3518Trust, discretion and arbitrariness in democratic politicsPatti Tamara LenardDemocratic institutions and practice depend on trust, in two ways. Citizens must trust each other to abide by shared rules and norms that together govern a political community; it is a feature of democratic states that they direct their resources not to enforcement of rule abidingness, but rather towards providing collective and public goods. Instead, states rely on the semi-voluntary compliance of citizens with these shared norms and laws. Citizens must also trust their political representatives, who via their election are granted discretion to make decisions that will have significant impact on the lives of those they represent. Yet, according to many scholars across many disciplines, this trust is at risk of being undermined, if it hasn’t yet been so. The possible reasons for weakened and broken trust are many, ranging from escalating wealth inequalities, to increasing cultural and ethnic diversity, to political incompetence of both voters and political representatives, to corruption among political representatives. In this article, I examine the trust that underpins the discretion accorded to elected representatives, to identify when the improper use of this discretion may reasonably be thought to be a source of distrust. In particular, I argue that where discretion is used arbitrarily, it may threaten to undermine the trust relations between citizens and their representatives, and therefore the efficient and effective running of democratic states.http://journals.openedition.org/estetica/3518trustdiscretiondemocratic institutions |
| spellingShingle | Patti Tamara Lenard Trust, discretion and arbitrariness in democratic politics Rivista di Estetica trust discretion democratic institutions |
| title | Trust, discretion and arbitrariness in democratic politics |
| title_full | Trust, discretion and arbitrariness in democratic politics |
| title_fullStr | Trust, discretion and arbitrariness in democratic politics |
| title_full_unstemmed | Trust, discretion and arbitrariness in democratic politics |
| title_short | Trust, discretion and arbitrariness in democratic politics |
| title_sort | trust discretion and arbitrariness in democratic politics |
| topic | trust discretion democratic institutions |
| url | http://journals.openedition.org/estetica/3518 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT pattitamaralenard trustdiscretionandarbitrarinessindemocraticpolitics |