Institutions exist largely to obviate the need for risky trust.

Evidence

The most important institutional alternatives to trust in our lives are government and the market, but there are many others, including various institutions and customary devices. Indeed, one could arguably go far toward explaining various institutional structures by showing how they obviate the need for acting as though we trust, at least when doing so involves risk of great loss. Organizations have, of course, many capacities to recommend them. In particular, they can organize collective actions that could not be organized readily or at all by spontaneous individual action. They are also important in mediating between potential partners who do not trust each other. — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 508

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s goal: in Saramago, government and market vanish with sight, so no institution remains to obviate risky trust — explaining the descent.