Traditional models of tax evasion cannot explain why most people comply with their taxes. It has been proposed that taxpayers may have an intrinsic motivation (or willingness) to comply with taxes - Tax Morale. Empirical studies found that trusting government, upholding religious beliefs, and supporting democratic regimes, increase individual Tax Morale. Based on those results and drawing from related literature in Political Science, this study tests the role of trusting government institutions delivering public goods to taxpayers, ideological beliefs, individual support for political regimes, and upholding post-materialist values, on Tax Morale. Results for individuals living in democratic countries show a positive relationship between trust in government institutions and upholding democratic values on Tax Morale; a negative relationship between upholding ideological (conservative) beliefs and Tax Morale, and no relationship between upholding post-materialist values and Tax Morale. Results for individuals living under non-democratic regimes differ in some respects; whereas support for democracy is related with higher Tax Morale, other results - trust in government and ideological beliefs - differ from theoretical expectations. Overall, higher trust in government increases willingness to comply with taxes, and support for democracy elicits higher Tax Morale.

This study addresses the question of what is affecting political trust in Europe. Political trust is vital for creating system legitimacy, which is needed for a democracy to be stable and effective. Over the years many theories about what is determining political trust have been developed, though no consensus of which theory that has the most effect has been reached. This paper will examine the effect that social capital and economic fairness evaluations have on political trust in Europe and if these effects can be seen to change depending on how long the countries has had democratic institutions. 27 countries were included in the study; these were divided into four regions depending on their time with democratic institutions. The theories used when looking at what could be effecting political trust are the social capital theory, defined by Robert Putnam in his studies of the system changes in Italy and the United States, and the economic fairness theory, used by Kluegel & Manson in their research on the post-communist states in Eastern Europe. The division of countries based on time with democratic institutions was done based on the two forms of political support defined by David Easton. The survey material used in the study is taken from the 2012 European Social Survey (ESS). The study concludes that both social capital as well as economic fairness evaluations have an effect on political trust, though how strong the effects are varies depending on the region of research and on which parts of the two theories that is tested. Though by far the strongest impact is in all four European regions seen when looking at how the citizens evaluate the economic system. The time since a country formed democratic institutions could not be found to have an effect on political trust.

The aim of the PhD dissertation is to research political trust, specifically to describe trends in political trust and to identify factors which are related to reported trust. Political trust is vertical trust oriented to selected political institutions which are grounded in the Constitution of the Czech Republic. Following political institutions are analyzed in this study: the Government of the Czech Republic, the Chamber of Deputies, the Senate, regional councils and municipal councils. Life-time learning model proposed by Mishler and Rose, which combines cultural and institutional approaches to explanation of trust in political institutions, is used as a theoretical framework in this study. All conducted analyses make use of data from surveys carried out by CVVM and other departments of the Institute of Sociology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. The key finding of the study is the fact that the level of trust in political institutions is mainly determined by factors associated with 1) institutional performance which is related to political situation and the perception of own economic situation or the economic situation of the state; 2) party preferences (presence of so called "the winner effect"). The level of trust in political institutions on national, regional, and local...

This thesis examines the effect political trust has on voter turnout among foreign born citizens in Sweden. Economic theory is used as theoretical framework for this study and describes two types of rationale; rationale of voting and rationale of migration, which must be taking into the account when trying to understand the effect of political trust among foreign born citizens. It is from this argued that the incentives to vote for foreign born citizens are very low but that political trust is high due to an improved standard of living. Based on previous research on the positive relationship of political trust and voter turnout as well as the rationale behind it, hypotheses are constructed to be tested in statistical analysis. The hypotheses are that probability to vote increases with political trust, foreign born citizens have higher political trust than native citizens, but that the effect of political trust on voter turnout among foreign born citizens is weaker than for native citizens. The empirical data used for the study are gathered from the 2016 round of the European Social Survey. The statistical analysis supports the hypotheses that probability to vote increases with political trust and that foreign born citizens do have a higher political trust than native citizens. This support in combination with the knowledge that foreign born citizens vote to a lesser degree creates a paradox that would be solved by the last hypothesis, that the effect is weaker among foreign born citizens. However, this hypothesis cannot be completely supported, but there are reasons to believe that with better data the outcome would be positive. The study still reaches the conclusion that political trust among foreign born people is an important issue to take into account for policy makers and future research.

Social trust is one of the building stones for democratic societies. It builds on mutual understanding of the collective commonly shared norms. However, how it associates to political trust on the individual level is still ambiguous, as such this paper hopes expand the knowledge of how it is related to political trust in Sweden on an individual level.  Aim: This paper aims to explore how political trust in Sweden relates to social trust. Furthermore, it aims to study how the relationship varies by educational attainment. Data and methods: This study has used ordinary least square (OLS) to estimate to what degree political trust associated with social trust. It has also in the regression analysis included an interaction term to see how political trust interacts with educational attainment. Results: It is hypothesized that higher levels of political trust are associated with higher levels of social trust. The result from this study finds significant results that higher levels of political trust are associated with higher levels of social trust. Indicating to a positive correlation. It is also hypothesized that higher educated would express stronger effect of political trust on social trust. The estimations showed no significant interaction term. The relationship between political trust and social trust does not vary by educational attainment. Discussion: This paper found that the first hypothesis was in line with the findings of previous research and theory. As such, it was confirmed. The second hypothesis was not in line with previous findings or theory and suggested that there is no interaction effect, at least not for Sweden. The differences in methods and how the contextual and institutional differences are handled in this study compared to previous studies are discussed and highlighted. These discussions are then culminated into a proposal for future research. / Social tillit är en av byggstenarna för demokratiska samhällen. Den bygger på ömsesidig förståelse för de kollektiva gemensamt delade normerna. Hur det associeras till politisk tillit på individnivå är dock fortfarande tvetydigt, och det är denna studies förhoppning att utöka kunskapen om hur den förhåller sig till politisk tillit i Sverige på individnivå.  Syfte: Denna studie syftar till att undersöka hur politisk tillit i Sverige förhåller sig till social tillit. Vidare syftar den till att studera hur sambandet varierar beroende på utbildningsnivå.  Data och metod: Denna studie har använt minsta kvadratmetoden för att uppskatta i vilken grad politisk tillit relaterar till social tillit. Det har också i regressionsanalysen inkluderats en interaktionsterm för att se hur politiskt tillit interagerar med utbildningsnivå. Resultat: Det hypotiseras att högre nivåer av politisk tillit är associerade med högre nivåer av social tillit. Resultatet från denna studie finner signifikanta resultat att högre nivåer av politisk tillit är associerade med högre nivåer av social tillit. Detta indikerar till en positiv korrelation. Det hypotiseras också att högre utbildade skulle uttrycka starkare effekt av politisk tillit på social tillit. Skattningarna visade ingen signifikant interaktionsterm. Förhållandet mellan politisk tillit och social tillit varierar inte beroende på utbildningsnivå. Diskussion: Denna uppsats fann att den första hypotesen var i linje med resultaten från tidigare forskning och teori. Som sådan bekräftades den. Den andra hypotesen var inte i linje med tidigare resultat eller teori och visade att det inte fanns någon interaktionseffekt, åtminstone inte för Sverige. Skillnaderna i metod och hur kontextuella och institutionella skillnader hanteras i denna studie jämfört med tidigare studier diskuteras och belyses. Dessa diskussioner mynnar sedan ut i förslag till framtida forskning.

This essay researches the link between populism and political trust by comparing the development of these two phenomena in Sweden and Italy. Populism is defined as a political strategy in which one appeals to the people and uses anti-establishment rhetoric. The purpose of the study is to analyze if voters that are less politically trustful are also more prone to vote for anti-establishment populist candidates. By using a temporal comparative analysis with a historical perspective in mind, the development and linkage of political trust and populism is analyzed in the cases’ most recent four elections.  The Swedish case is distinguished by relatively high levels of political trust but have in the latest decade seen an ever-growing proportion of their electorate turning to the right-wing populist Sweden Democrats. Italy, comparatively, is currently distinguished for low levels of political trust and has seen populist politicians thrive in the electorate ever since the 1990s ‘Mani Pulite’ scandal, and over a majority voted for the two populist parties Lega Nord and Five Star movement. The main research findings suggest that political trust, while not being a crucial determinant for contemporary populist successes, certainly helps populist parties gain attention and attraction. It also shows indications that the relation between populism and political trust can go in two directions. Sweden resembles a case where increased support for the SD have led to decreased political trust. In contrast, Italy’s political scandals, volatile voters and drastic decreases in political trust seems to have sparked increased support for populists.

Political climates are undoubtedly changing across the nation and creating volatile fluctuations of attitudes, beliefs, and behavior. In a more entertaining season of presidential primaries, both parties – Democratic and Republican – have nominees that will once again be scrutinized by many across the country. I argue the levels of scrutiny will more likely than not be enhanced to new proportions. Since a consistent reliance on media involvement and attack ads have grown immensely amongst presidential candidates, this will translate into a wider gap in party polarization and subsequently tie into the trust of American citizens. Previous scholars have shown consistent data that political trust has no bearing on the actual turnout of presidential elections (Citrin 1974). But, historic distrustful ratings between major-party candidates may prove to alter political cultures for subsequent years. In this study, I thoroughly examine the growing significance of political trust on presidential voting in the United States.

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This study investigated the perceptions of election stakeholders with regard to the management of the 2011 electoral processes in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The involvement of civil society organizations, electoral experts and academia, including party agents as domestic observers and stakeholders in Congolese electoral processes, is crucial as they help electoral and participatory democracy to take root in the DRC. This study was underpinned by political trust, political support and neopatrimonial theories. Furthermore, a mixed methods research design was used in order to understand the perceptions of stakeholders on the management of the 2011 electoral processes in the DRC. The findings of the study showed that stakeholders‟ perceptions on the management of the 2011 electoral processes in the DRC were driven by both internal and external factors pertaining to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that have the potential to affect the electoral processes as well as the level of trust in the INEC and other institutions involved in the electoral processes. / Political Sciences / M.A. (Politics)

回顧過去半世紀以來，我國在各方面突飛猛進，一方面順應劇烈的環境變遷，以因應全球化的浪潮，另一方面在國人勤奮的耕耘下，無論是經濟或社會層面，都能在穩健中提升國家競爭力、促進社會的進步與經濟成長。在社會、經濟大幅發展的過程中，探究成長的因素，政治環境的穩定與多元蓬勃的教育，功不可歿。選擇臺灣地區政治、經濟發展較為充分的北高兩直轄市，以學童經由生活背景、教育環境、社會機構的階段學習，了解臺灣地區兩大城市的未來主人翁，在政治社會的學習成效，期能獲知學童在政治定向上的思維，提供政治社會化教育、穩定政治社會，貢獻微薄成果。 本研究透過調查問卷的分析、學童與教師訪談的驗證與補充，探討經由家庭、學校、同儕團體、傳播媒體等不同的社會化機制，在累積、認同、模仿、轉移、類化、認知發展等不同的學習模式下，形成直轄市學童不同的政治社會化學習成效；包含對政治的看法、政治知識、對政府的認知、國名選擇、政治信任感、政黨偏好與政治興趣等政治定向。 經由不同的個人背景，在性別上，對於政府執行政策，女生比較男生不具政治信任感，而父母親職業對於學童的政治知識程度具有顯著性的影響，父親的職業愈是如醫師、律師、建築師、會計師等專業人員，學童的政治知識學習成效就愈高；父母親的教育程度亦與學童的政治知識學習成效成顯著性的正相關；雖然多數學童對政治持負面的看法，惟居住臺北市的學童，對政治持負面看法的比例高於高雄市，具有顯著的差異。 南北兩直轄市的學童家庭，具有權威型的家庭決策權與民主型的管教權；多數家庭屬中政治化程度，家庭的政治化程度與學童的政黨偏好以及政治行為傾向呈顯著正相關，家庭的政治化程度愈高，學童的政黨偏好程度愈高，且愈呈現政治興趣上的中、高政治行為傾向。另學童父母親的政黨傾向，對於學童政治態度上的政黨偏好與政治興趣上的政治行為傾向，亦具有顯著性的影響，父母親的政黨偏好「泛藍」，學童的政黨偏好亦傾向「泛藍」。 在學校的社會化機制方面，學校的民主氛圍與學童的政治知識程度，成顯著性的正相關，與學童對政府的認知，則呈現顯著性的負相關；學校教師多屬民主型的領導風格，惟學童對於政治多數不具信任感。學童同儕之間的互動較少，同儕互動與國名選擇，不具關聯性；不同的同儕互動，對於學童對政治的看法、政黨偏好與政治興趣上的政治行為傾向，則具有顯著性的影響。就大眾傳播的電視媒體而言，雖然電視的新聞時事節目，不是大多數受訪學童的最愛，但收視電視媒體之經常度，卻與政治知識程度成顯著性正相關，而平常愛看「新聞時事」的學童，多數政黨傾向偏好「泛藍」，愈高的接觸「電視時事」節目程度，學童在政治興趣上，具有中/高政治行為傾向愈高。 學童在政治社會化學習成效的政治定向相互之間，雖然學童的政治知識對於學童政治興趣上的政治行為傾向，不具相關性，而學童對政府的認知與政治信任感，則具有顯著性的相關；另政治的信任感與對政治的看法，以及政治興趣上的政治行為傾向，亦具有顯著性的相關；大多數屬於偏低信任感的學童，對於政治的聯想亦多數持負面看法；對於政府官員執行政務高度信任的學童，佔有較高比例的「中/高政治行為傾向」。 環境與人是息息相關的，在人類追求美好生活的福祉下，優質穩定的政治生態，為孕育學習與成長的搖籃，探討學童政治社會化的學習成效，不僅有助於學童將來的適應環境社會，且能使其學習成效反饋於政治系統，因此探討直轄市學童政治社會化的學習成效，深具實用性。