Public Opposition To The Siting Of The High-Level Nuclear Waste Repository: The Importance Of Trust

This paper examines several dimensions of public opposition to the proposed siting of the high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. In order to provide a context for the public's views of the repository in metropolitan Clark County, both governmental studies of the repository siting process are analyzed, as well as elements of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. This analysis suggests that one potentially key component of the public's opposition to the siting, as well as their perceptions of risk of the facility, may be the result of a lack of trust in the Department of Energy. Empirical analysis of survey data collected in Nevada in 1988 confirms the strong relationship between political trust and repository risk perceptions.     

POPULATION GROWTH AND ADMINISTRATIVE VARIATIONS IN SMALL CITIES1

This seven city study of administrative arrangements finds that small municipal governments deal with rapid growth in a variety of ways. Some employ central executives, some expand the duties of incumbent officials, and others turn to consultants and outside sources of aid. Accordingly, more or less population increase in a community is not necessarily related to either the kind or degree of administrative change, at least in the short term.     

Yan,Xuetong. Leadership and the Rise of Great Powers

Journal of Chinese Political Science -     

Are Survey Measures of Trust Correlated with Experimental Trust? Evidence from Cameroon

In less developed countries, there is often a low correlation between survey-based measures of interpersonal trust and experimental measures. This has caused doubt about the reliability of trust measures used to explain variations in levels of socio-economic development. Using data from rural Cameroon, we explore whether the correlation between survey and experimental trust depends on social distance, and on whether the survey questions are context-specific. We find a high correlation in all cases. However, correlations with survey trustworthiness do depend on social distance.