Trust in Government and Participation in Democracy: Empirical Evidence From India

ABSTRACT This study examines the relationship between trust in government and citizens' participation in democracy, utilizing data from the World Value Survey (WVS) dataset. The study focuses on six indicators of citizens' participation: voting in elections, signing petitions, participating in peaceful demonstrations, watching television media for news and information, using the internet, and engaging with social networks. Trust in government is measured by evaluating citizens' confidence in the functionality and performance of the legislature, executive, judiciary, and civil services. The study also considers the influence of individual factors such as gender, age, education, income, religion, and social class. Logistic regression models, including a combined model, are used for analysis. The results indicate that higher trust in government positively affects various aspects of democratic participation.