What role does ideological trust in institutions such as the state play in the emergence of civil society "vigilance" and the dynamics of the (de)politicization of nuclear debates? This paper explores this question by comparing four countries with different trust profiles: Finland as a “high trust society”, France and Spain as “societies of mistrust”, and Germany as an intermediate case. The result shows that strong ideological trust in the state hindered the development of mistrustful counter-expertise in Finland but created a basis for its emergence in France and Germany. In contrast, the weakness of ideological trust in the state in Spain has undermined civic vigilance.
gemeinnützige Gesellschaft für Kommunikations- und Kooperationsforschung mbH