| Resumen: |
The COVID-19 pandemic is testing governance systems around the world. Where democratic systems were already straining under the pressure of post- inancial crisis populism, this latest crisis is pushing political institutions and norms to breaking point. The variation in responses and results has again opened the debate as to the ability of democracies to deliver in moments of crisis. Through all this, one factor seems to dictate the extent to which governments have been able to respond successfully to the pandemic: political trust.
Trust in political institutions such as the legislature, executive branch, and courts, is commonly thought to shape both the stability and quality of democracy. In recent years, as populist leaders and anti-system parties have won high-profile electoral victories, some have presented falling levels of political trust as a crisis – both for established democracies and for their younger counterparts. |
