Authors

Nadja Douglas¹;  ¹ Centre for East European and International Studies, Germany

Discussion

Social and interpersonal trust are said to be beneficial to societal mobilisation and the participation in protests. At the same time, state performance, notably of state power structures during instances of social grievances and unrest, has an impact on the public perception and trust in these institutions and assessment of their legitimacy. The police are the most visible manifestation of state authority, which has particularly become apparent during post-electoral protests in Belarus in 2020, when their performance directly influenced and determined further societal mobilisation. Belarusian society has for a long time been characterised by low social trust, a common characteristic of authoritarian regimes. In addition, there has been a proven erosion of institutional trust prior to the latest wave of mass protests. This contribution seeks to explore the interplay between social/interpersonal as well as institutional trust during periods of societal mobilisation, based on an analysis of the Belarusian case over time. It will further elaborate why trust (both social and institutional) is an important prerequisite for a functional state-society relationship. The paper relies on data from problem-centred interviews, conducted in Belarus on the ground and via E-mail/Skype between 2017 and 2020, and two nation-wide surveys realised on behalf of the Centre for East European and International Studies in December 2020 and June 2021.