Some years ago the noted novelist E. M. Forster (1965, 70) gave “Two Cheers for Democracy,”

one because it admits variety and two because it permits criticism. Two cheers are quite enough: there is no occasion to give three. Only Love the Beloved Republic deserves that.

Perhaps there is a reason for a third cheer. Democratic societies are trusting societies.

The big payoff from interpersonal trust, most contemporary observers say, is that it leads to “better” government and to a public that is happier with government performance. Or maybe good government makes people more likely to trust each other. Or perhaps both.

Here I seek to examine, in a broader, cross-national context, the causes and consequences of trust. More specifically, I shall show that the same arguments made about the effects of trust in American society and its polity apply more generally across nations. A host of factors have been cited as potential determinants of trust, including education levels, media usage, a strong legal system, corruption, and the foundation of a civil society – membership in voluntary organizations.