2023-10-13 11:00:06
“The keystone of democracy is trust. » When he responds to students of the University of Perpignan, Friday September 29Olivier Véran knows something about it: as Minister delegate responsible for democratic renewal, he is in a way leader of the renovation project of the political edifice that is the Fifth Republic. However, this vast undertaking of reconstruction was begun precisely following the observation that citizens’ confidence was cruelly lacking today, threatening democracy with collapse.
This distrust of politics in France is, of course, palpable in the most everyday attitudes and conversations: we hear it, for example, in the recriminations against political personnel (“all rotten”), or in the current denunciation of a system which would always benefit the same people. But this feeling is also and above all measured objectively; and even every year since 2009 thanks to the Political Confidence Barometer, an academic survey conducted by the OpinionWay institute for the Sciences Po Political Research Center (Cevipof).
The results of the last wave, published in September, speak for themselves: 82% of respondents believe that political leaders care little or nothing about what people like them think; 69% judge that, as a general rule, French elected officials and political leaders are corrupt rather than honest; and 64% consider that democracy does not work well in France. All political personnel and institutions will see their confidence rate drop in 2023; and none, except the most local authorities, can boast of having the confidence of the majority of respondents.
By monitoring this complex and multidimensional phenomenon that is trust, the Cevipof teams therefore intend to measure the solidity of our liberal and representative democracies. Whether considered as a keystone, a foundation or a cement, trust intuitively appears to be a reliable index of the good health of a social group. Both a feeling and a belief, trust has long been recognized as one of these « institutions invisibles » which hold societies together, in the words of Nobel Prize winner in economics Kenneth Arrow. Because it is an optimistic bet on the future behavior of individuals and organizations, it is a “lubricant of social relations” which allows them to establish and flourish smoothly and more quickly; because it creates expectations and a feeling of reciprocal duty among everyone, it ensures social cohesion.
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