Who can you blame? Trust in institutions and mobilization across regimes in Asia

Abstract

In this article, we consider the attitudinal motivations for political participation in countries across Asia. Specifically, we assess how trust in different types of institutional actors provides incentives for extra-legal actions, such as protest and the use of force, by analyzing the behaviors of individuals based upon their evaluations of representational and implementing institutions. As part of this analysis, we consider attitudes and action in both democracies and non-democracies, arguing for separate mechanisms to motivate unconventional political participation. Using Asian Barometer Survey data, we find that individuals living under democratic regimes are motivated to engage in more costly forms of participation in response to their assessments of trust in elected officials, while those individuals residing in non-democracies engage in these high-risk activities when they are dissatisfied with the performance of the police, civil service, and courts.