With journalists disbelieved, politicians distrusted, judges called ‘enemies of the people’, and scientists and experts dismissed out of hand, established democracies seem to be undergoing a crisis of trust. But what has caused it: growing affluence, austerity, growing inequality, the social media, or aggressive journalists? To what extent is the old democratic model damaged? Or is democracy becoming so advanced, is the attack on unelected authority so vigorous, that liberal democracies are starting to undermine themselves from within? Does the erosion of trust matter, and if so how can it be rebuilt? This week on Newshour Extra Owen Bennett Jones and his guests discuss trust and the lack of it.
(Photo: A man dressed in blue surgical scrubs holds up a large syringe. Credit: Getty Images)