Trust— necessary fuel for effective governance
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The fifth Future of Government Disruptive Debate convened experts from around the world to share their views on trust in governments. Trust in political leadership has been especially strained during COVID-19 as not all politicians and leaders have adhered to government mandates and policies regarding, for example, lockdowns, vaccines and masking, creating distrust, discord and concerns about just and fair treatment.
Aidan Eyakuze, the Executive Director of Twaweza East Africa, stressed that governments need to answer two central questions. First, do they have the people’s best interest at heart or are they more interested in retaining power? Caring about people might sometimes include governments admitting that they do not know all the answers and consulting with citizens on what their priorities are. The second question relates to governments’ competence. Governments need to be clear about what their strengths are to solve the problems people face: what capacities do they have? They need to have the fiscal and legal capacity to effectively solve problems.
Michael Muthukrishna, Associate Professor of Economic Psychology at the London School of Economics, explained that collective action depends on the extent to which citizens trust each other. If trust is absent, we would have several competing societies within the same country. Governments need to communicate that everybody is subject to the rule of law regardless of their upbringing or connections. If governments fail to build this trust, people will only trust their families, friends, and ethnic and religious groups. Once social norms about trusting one’s clan over the state solidify, it will become a norm among leaders, parliamentarians, and business owners, leading to corruption, nepotism, and cronyism. This, in turn, undermines institutional trust.
Should governments deliver based on what citizens need or on what they want? Julius Mukunda, Executive Director of the Civil Society Budget Advocacy Group in Uganda, argued that although citizens’ expectations about what governments can (and should) do have increased, citizens understand that resources are limited. . After all, elected leaders and bureaucrats are not superhumans. Also, governments tend to be more wasteful than the private sector. Facebook users can go to other social media platforms, but it is more difficult to change national governments, at least in the African context. Local or regional governments can be more accountable since they provide basic services and citizens have direct and frequent contact with them.
Sonia Cooper, Chief Executive Officer of Ipswich City Council in Australia, added that governments would benefit from showcasing their vulnerability. When they make mistakes, they should admit it. This helps build trust. The current unpredictable pandemic environment has caused many governments to make mistakes, but unfortunately these were not always publicly recognized and acknowledged. She explained how Ipswich’s newly elected government ran basic services more like the private sector, treating citizens as customers to gain their trust. In a local government, where several previous leaders were convicted and imprisoned for corruption, this was a major transformation compared to the earlier mode of delivery.
Finally, Jaimie Boyd, former Chief Digital Officer of the Government of British Colombia, agreed that trust can be reinforced by providing reliable services. After all, governments’ raison d'être is to serve people and businesses. Nevertheless, their relationship with citizens cannot be based on transactions alone. She pointed to an unprecedented suite of tools to provide services in a trustworthy manner (such as online proof of COVID-19 vaccination) but added that new tools need to be built to facilitate trust in the Internet age.
The panelists agreed that government employees are immersed in building trust, since their attitude toward citizens matters immensely. In cases where the social contract has frayed, it is the first responders and frontline workers who enable governments to change the culture for the better, as was the case during the pandemic.
You can watch the replay of the debate here.
What are your thoughts on trust in governments? You can contribute to this debate via Twitter @wbg_gov and using the hashtag #FutureOfGovernment; via our website at worldbank.org/en/programs/futureofgovernment or by simply leaving a comment below.
Blogs in the Future of Government series:
- Starting a conversation about the future of governments post coronavirus by Ed Olowo-Okere | May 27, 2020
- Introducing the Future of Government Initiative’s Debate Series by Ed Olowo-Okere | May 11, 2021
- Understanding what people want from their leaders: the first Future of Government Disruptive Debate, event recap by Donna Andrews, Tim Williamson, & Jacques Rosenberg | May 29, 2021
- What the demands on and future objectives of government mean to me by President Laura Chinchilla Miranda | May 29, 2021
- How will the role of government change after the pandemic? event recap by Donna Andrews, Tim Williamson, & Marje Aksli | June 25, 2021
- The future of government: a new social contract for the 21st Century? by Kumi Naidoo | July 20, 2021
- How officials can do better at delivering services to citizens, event recap by Alasdair Fraser, Donna Andrews, & Tim Williamson | November 3, 2021
- How to increase government productivity in the post-COVID-19 world, event recap by Jacques Rosenberg, Donna Andrews, & Tim Williamson | November 4, 2021
- The Future of Government: Basic Education and the (limited) role of technology in complex human endeavor by Lant Pritchett | June 23, 2022
Join the Conversation
Effective government...you must be joking! The only effects that most governments are providing is their support for the wealthy with a mere token response to providing some effective help to the vast majority of the population, who have to work for their living. A wise and serious government should abandon its politics for seeking power and work instead to provide the whole nation with equality of opportunity to both work and reside in suitable locations. This is through the provision of protection against the land monopolists whose greed and selfishness is not providing fair chances for us, the majority, to be properly treated with regard to both the taxation and opportunities for advancement. A new taxation regime based on the advantages that landlords unjustly acquire through their rents and rising land values. The latter is due to infrastructure development (being paid for by many other taxes), should be introduced by a single kind of tax on the rent derived from land values.
Truest will happen, when the promises match the reality.. trust will take place, when the budget VS expense publicizes at the end of year.. there should be a cap ( as % of rev) for salaries and benefits of employees… there should not be any pay and perks for political positions as they are elected to serve the public. Transparency in all matters of revenue & expenditure and publicizing the fact sheet periodically makes people trust the Govt..??
The issue of trust is important for all participants. Integrity, ethics and trust must become foundational for the Multi-lateral institutions, businesses and governments. The multi-laterals have taken a leadership role and must lead by example. They have become insular and in some instances insulated because of their location and practices over the past seventy years. The WBG/IMF must develop a global perspective and recognize the many errors made since their formation. They must then iterate and develop practices that make them more resilient and neutral in making recommendations to their clients.
The WBG must have problem solving teams in each of its member countries and these teams must consult with government, academia, businesses and the people in arriving at decisons. They must not represent the interests of a few nations at the expense of others.
The WBG suffers from some of the ills it sees in poor nations and must eradicate them.