Vertrauen in Eliten und die politische Unterstützung der Demokratie

In modern polyarchies national elites are facing tremendous challenges caused by societal changes as well as the impact of internationalization. At the same time, conditions for producing political legitimacy have altered fundamentally. Against this background, the article devises an analytical category, termed “trust in elites”. In a first step, the paper provides an explanation for the theoretical relevance of the category’s vertical dimension, referring to transdisciplinary research on “trust” and “confidence” as well as to the concept of political support presented by David Easton. In a second step, suggestions on how the vertical dimension of “trust in elites” may be measured empirically are offered.