IN-EAST News
29.04.2015 - 00:00
Wed. April 29, 2015: Guest Lecture Dr. Neil Munro, "Why do most Chinese Trust the Central Party-state More Than Local Government?"
We are pleased to announce that Dr. Neil Munro, Lecturer in Chinese Politics at the University of Glasgow, School of Social and Political Sciences, will give a Research Forum lecture on
"Why do most Chinese Trust the Central Party-state More Than Local Government?"
at the DFG Research Training Group "Risk and East Asia".
Date: Wednesday, WS 2014/2015
Time: 12–2 pmVenue: Building LE, Room 736
Address: Forsthausweg 2, 47057 Duisburg
University of Duisburg-Essen
ABSTRACT
In China a majority of citizens trust the central party-state more than local government, but why they do so is not well understood. Using data from a nationally representative public opinion survey conducted between November 2012 and January 2013, we analyze differences between trusting the centre more than local government (which we call “hierarchical trust”) and two other frequently occurring combinations: equal trust in the centre and local government and distrust in both levels. Using multinomial logistic regression, we first validate the typology by showing that, ceteris paribus, hierarchical trusters and equal trusters are more satisfied with regime performance, more likely to endorse core regime values and more trusting of the media than distrusters. We then test three hypotheses about why people choose hierarchical trust over equal trust. The first is that hierarchical trusters are less happy with regime performance than equal trusters, the second is that they trust the media less than equal trusters, and the third is they are more in tune with regime core values than equal trusters. We conclude that hierarchical trust is principally explained by trust in the media and regime performance evaluations.
BIO
Dr Neil Munro is lecturer in Chinese politics at the University of Glasgow. His research focusses on political aspects of social and environmental policy, with an emphasis on understanding the dynamics of public opinion through social survey analysis. Before entering the field of Chinese politics, he worked on post-Communist countries of Eastern Europe, especially Russia. He is the author or co-author of more than a dozen peer-reviewed articles and books on post-Communist politics.