Trust and Emerging Democracy: Lessons from Poland

Abstract

The former communist societies of Eastern Central Europe (e.g. Poland) repeatedly experience barriers and blockades on the road toward an open, democratic, market society of the Western type. The author claims that most of the problems are due to the deficiency of cultural resources, the central of which is trust. A theory of trust is proposed, informed by the author's earlier work on `social becoming'. The `culture of distrust' is found to pervade Polish society at all levels of social life. Part of that syndrome derives from the legacy of real socialism, but more attention should be focused on current conditions: the new `risk environments', widespread anomie, inefficiency of political elites, and an enhanced feeling of relative deprivation after revolutionary elation and unrealistic hopes. To restore trust, an indispensable component of robust social tissue, the consistency of reforms must be safeguarded, the rule of law meticulously observed, integration with Western democracies speeded up and trust itself turned into a recognized social value.