In large-scale infrastructure projects, the Dutch government allows its citizens to suffer some damage and nuisance ('facilitated damage'). The government then aims to settle claims and compensate... Show moreIn large-scale infrastructure projects, the Dutch government allows its citizens to suffer some damage and nuisance ('facilitated damage'). The government then aims to settle claims and compensate that damage; it also tries to restore the trust relationship between victimized citizens and the government. How can government arrive at a trust-building compensation policy if it has facilitated damage for a group of citizens in a large-scale infrastructural project, for the sake of the public interest? In this research, an interdisciplinary theoretical framework of trust-building compensation policy is designed based on legal, public administrative and political science insights. Subsequently, on the basis of three extensive case studies – the construction of the North/South metro line in Amsterdam, the expansion of Schiphol Airport, and the consequences of gas extraction in Groningen – the study analyzes to what extent these theoretical insights have an effect in practice: did they help to build or recover trust in government? The aim of the study is to provide practical and concrete guidelines for lawyers and policymakers involved in compensation policy, so that they know how not to damage trust in the government in the future. Show less
There is much discussion about the potential negative effects of social media use on people’s political attitudes. But, does social media use shape trust in government? We use evidence from the... Show moreThere is much discussion about the potential negative effects of social media use on people’s political attitudes. But, does social media use shape trust in government? We use evidence from the 2012 and 2016 ANES as well as the 2018 American Institutional Confidence Poll to test competing expectations regarding this question: that social media polarizes versus de-polarizes trust judgments across partisan lines. Our analyses provide greater support for the expectation of polarization. We then unpack the potential mechanisms behind these findings. We use the number of “stealth” issue campaigns targeted to the respondent’s state in 2016 as a proxy for the amount of political conflict the respondent was likely to have experienced when using social media during the 2016 Presidential election. Notably, we find that polarization is substantially impacted by the nature of the voter’s broader political environment. These findings are consequential for our understanding of how social media influences public opinion and draws attention to the role of the broader political context for this relationship. Show less
Effective public communications have been proposed as a remedy for citizens’ distrust in government. Recent studies pointed to the emotional effect of symbolic elements, entangled in government... Show moreEffective public communications have been proposed as a remedy for citizens’ distrust in government. Recent studies pointed to the emotional effect of symbolic elements, entangled in government public communications (e.g., logos, images, and celebrities). Still, they did not examine the interaction between these symbols and the substantive information in communications about bureaucracies’ performance and policies. Exploring this interaction is important for understanding the theoretical mechanisms underlying the effect of symbolic communication on citizens’ trust. Also, it is essential to assess symbols’ potency to unduly compensate for unfavorable or logically unpersuasive information, and enable public organizations to escape justified public criticism. Building on the social psychology Elaboration Likelihood Model, I theorize that symbols may increase citizens’ trust by conducing citizens to pay less attention to logically unpersuasive information, and thus offsetting its negative effect. I test this indirect mechanism via a large survey experiment, focusing on the Israeli Environment Protection Ministry. The experimental results support the research hypotheses and suggest that the effect of symbolic elements is stronger when communications include logically unpersuasive information. I discuss the implications of these findings for democratic responsiveness and accountability. Show less
