Trends in Norwegians' Trust in Government Over Time and Across Risk Events and Crises: A Story of Stability and Resilience

ABSTRACT Within research on risks and crises, but also within the discourse of many governments and policymakers, an understanding prevails of public trust as a critical, fragile, and declining resource. However, the fragility of trust to risk events and crises has been questioned in some research, and a certain amount of distrust has been argued to be healthy, as it can reflect a degree of public skepticism important for checking policies and practices and for public engagement and participation. Based on a study of the trust of the Norwegian public in the government and governmental authorities, examining trends using multiple sources of repeated cross‐sectional data together covering 20 years, we address the longevity of the impacts on trust of risk events and whether changes in public trust over time can be connected to a more nuanced conceptualization of trust as functional and critical. Although finding public trust to be sensitive to risk events on a short‐term basis, the study provides a picture of public trust in the Norwegian context as stable and resilient over time and throughout various risk events. Some implications of the findings for risk communication and crisis management are also discussed.