1st Edition
The Problem of Political Trust A Conceptual Reformulation
1. The Uses of Trust
2. Re-describing Trust
3. Trust’s Political Genealogy
4. Transformations of Trust
5. Money. Trust in Action?
6. Hegel and Nietzsche
7. Trust With or Without Conditions
8. Conclusions
Biography
Grant Duncan is a scholar of political theory and public policy, and a political commentator, living in Auckland, New Zealand. His previous work on pain and on happiness, linking subjective states with political aims and public institutions, can be found in Economy & Society, Journal of Happiness Studies, and The Monist.
"As many studies have focused in recent years on what is commonly viewed as a growing distrust in Western societies that threatens the very fabric of democracy, Duncan provides us with a useful reminder that liberal democracies were founded on a profound distrust of those in power.We expect people to abuse power if left unchecked and have thus developed constitutional and statutory controls in an attempt to limit the illegitimate actions of our rulers. But trust is not simply an alternative to power in Duncan’s analysis. By employing Foucault’s understanding of power, he presents trust as a productive modality of power that in public life creates community."
- Vicki A. Spencer, University of Otago, New Zealand, Australian Journal of Public Administration.
