University Honors

The end of World War II ushered in a period of cultural changes and economic growth inthe United States, which set the stage for renewed relationships between citizens and theirgovernments. In the decades since, the levels of confidence and dissatisfaction in governmentinstitutions have varied widely, leading to the intriguing question of why citizens trust or mistrusttheir governments.The evolving dynamics of trust in government have been a subject ofsustained interest and debate in the realms of political science, sociology, and public policy, withvaried perspectives on its causes and consequences. This paper will attempt to understand andanalyze trust in government institutions through two perspectives, focusing primarily on thethree branches of the United States federal government in the past 78 years (1945-2023) sincethe end of World War II. There is the rational choice perspective, which argues that trust isrooted in individuals' rational calculations of government performance, policy outcomes, and thegovernment's ability to fulfill its functions. Alternatively, the identity perspective posits that trustis deeply interwoven with partisan, cultural, social identity and emotional ties between citizensand their governments, often transcending pure rationality. The paper examines these twoperspectives and their interaction, ultimately to answer the question: why has there been suchsuch a variation in political trust in the past 70 years? The paper discusses variousmethodologies for measuring trust in government institutions, including surveydata, and casestudies. It critically evaluates the strengths and limitations of these methods, aiming to contributeto a more nuanced understanding of the dynamics of trust.