Democratic agility in crisis governance: Political trust as a mediating mechanism

The COVID-19 pandemic revived longstanding claims that democratic governance limits rapid and effective crisis response. While authoritarian regimes are often credited with institutional agility derived from centralized authority and coercive capacity, democracies must operate through accountability, legal constraint, and public consent. This paper argues that the missing link in explaining democratic crisis performance is political trust. Specifically, it theorizes political trust as a mediating mechanism between democratic institutional structures and crisis governance outcomes. Distinguishing between diffuse trust in democracy as a regime type and issue-specific trust in crisis management, the paper demonstrates that high levels of generalized regime trust are not a necessary condition for democratic agility. Rather, domain-specific trust in governmental competence and intentions during emergencies can generate voluntary compliance that substitutes for coercion. Using a case study of Ghana's COVID-19 response, the analysis shows how crisis-specific trust enabled swift policy implementation, widespread public adherence to restrictions, and the preservation of democratic norms. The findings refine debates on regime type and crisis governance by demonstrating that democratic agility is conditional and mediated by trust, rather than structurally determined by institutional form. By foregrounding political trust as a functional governance resource, the paper contributes to a more nuanced understanding of how democracies can act decisively in emergencies while maintaining constitutional integrity.