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Social Policy and Political Trust: Long-Term Effects of Welfare Generosity in Europe.

While some argue that diminishing welfare policies erode political trust, others contend they do not significantly influence support for political institutions. Despite pressures on social spending, a comprehensive examination of the relationship between welfare policies and political trust is lacki...

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Published in:Political Studies Vol. 74; no. 2; pp. 747 - 770
Main Authors: Gillissen, Matthijs, Goubin, Silke, Ruelens, Anna
Format: Article
Published: Sage Publications Inc. May2026
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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      dt: May2026
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      pub: Sage Publications Inc.
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        atl: Social Policy and Political Trust: Long-Term Effects of Welfare Generosity in Europe.
      aug:
        au:
          Gillissen, Matthijs
          Goubin, Silke
          Ruelens, Anna
        affil: HIVA – KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
      keyword:
        Bayesian latent variable modeling
        political trust
        random effects within-between analysis
        social policy
        welfare state politics
        Bayesian latent variable modeling
        political trust
        random effects within-between analysis
        social policy
        welfare state politics
      ab: While some argue that diminishing welfare policies erode political trust, others contend they do not significantly influence support for political institutions. Despite pressures on social spending, a comprehensive examination of the relationship between welfare policies and political trust is lacking. This research analyzes trends in political trust across Europe using Bayesian dynamic latent variable modeling and investigates the impact of within-country changes and enduring between-country differences in social policies on national-level trust. It focuses on cash benefit transfer policies, particularly those addressing for life-course risks and labor market insurance. Results show that structurally generous social policies correlate with higher political trust, but short-term changes in policy generosity do not. Furthermore, the generosity of specific policies does not exhibit a clear direct relationship with national-level trust. Overall, these findings support the skeptical view that more generous welfare policies do not easily foster increased political trust in the short term.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
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