Political Trust and Protest Behaviour in Local Government in the Free State
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Date
2021
Authors
Letsoara, Thabiso Joseph
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of the Free State
Abstract
Political trust is understood as an attitude that reflects citizens’ basic evaluative orientations of the political system, its institutions and incumbent authorities. This attitude of political trust is also found to have a significant bearing on how citizens relate with and behave towards their local political institutions and incumbent authorities. This research report pays specific attention to how low and/or declined levels of political trust foments protest action at a municipal level. To be precise, the relationship between political trust and protest action will be examined in the context of municipalities in the Free State Province, South Africa. The theoretical proposition of this report is that citizens in the Free State demonstrate low and/or declined levels of political trust and as a consequence, local communities respond by means of endless protest action across local municipalities. The accuracy of this proposition may signify a more profound challenge of a poor, ineffective and inefficient local government system in the province. Nonetheless, it is important to note that these observations are not unique to the Free State, but seem to characterise most municipalities across the country. If left unabated, low levels of trust and rising protest action may pose a serious risk to the stability and legitimacy of the entire local government system.
Description
Dissertation (MGT (Governance and Political Transformation))--University of the Free State, 2021
Keywords
political trust, service delivery protests, community protests, good governance, local government