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Taiwan's government in a `double trust' crisis

The late German sociologist Niklas Luhmann (1927-1998) expounded a famous "Theory of Trust" (信任理論), on the basis of which one might well explain Taiwan's post-presidential election condition: we are in a government-inspired "double trust" crisis (雙重信任危機).

Luhmann identified two forms of trust: "personal trust" (個人信任) and "system trust" (系統信任). Since the structure of traditional societies was quite simple, his theory goes, interaction among people was based on their personal trust. In a sophisticated, structured, modern society consisting of complex systems, however, each of the systems has a degree of autonomy, independence and professionalism. People can therefore no longer live by personal trust alone. Instead, they need to live by system trust and must rely on a variety of systems in society to solve their problems.

To be more specific, personal trust can be built on the basis of a person's trust-worthiness and reliability; system trust can be built on the basis of the smooth operation of a system, such as a currency or a legal system, if it is not abused or manipulated in any way.

Why do we need to trust the government? If we trust our government, we can turn many of the sources of our worries into sources of confidence. Because of people's trust and support in systems, government executives can simplify complex things in order to avoid unnecessary mistakes when implementing their policies. Thus, if government mechanisms inspire confidence, people worry less and live happier lives under these sound systems.

Unfortunately, Taiwanese people's trust in governmental systems has not increased, but has rather decreased, since the new government took office. After the mission to achieve rotation of ruling parties (政黨輪替) was completed, Taiwan suddenly became a highly risky society.

All our transport, financial, economic, and political systems seem to be problematic now, which has tended to undermine people's faith in these systems. Although the justice system is now trying to guarantee law and order through a robust crackdown on "black-gold" (黑金), this is not enough to save the now critical situation and to win back the people's trust. This great source of disappointment has caused Taiwan's biggest crisis in system trust since the country's economy began to soar. Many people are terrified of becoming the next victim of either natural or man-made disasters. This is what I call Taiwan's system trust crisis.

How can we rebuild people's trust in society? Should we go back to traditional ways which stress personal trust? Since Taiwan's president was directly elected by the people, I believe it is possible to rebuild the lack of system trust by raising personal trust in the president. In other words, if the president is charming, ambitious, and competent enough, people's personal trust in the head of state will be raised. Although such personal admiration may smack of "despotic populism" (民粹主義) or a "personality cult" (個人崇拜), its inception could be a turning point at which Taiwan starts to overcome its system trust crisis.

Unfortunately, the poor performance of the so-called "government for all the people" (全民政府) has disappointed us and has failed to enhance our system trust through personal trust.

Taiwan's crisis in both system trust and a personal trust clearly reflects the incompetence of Taiwan's new government. No wonder people feel so insecure and threatened as they go about their daily lives.

Lin Duan is an associate professor at the department of sociology, National Taiwan University.

Translated by Eddy Chang
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