Mistrust is democratic, delegitimation assaults democracy

Evidence

Even diffuse and widespread mistrust, which is a sign of anxiety about democracy, stops short of the judgment that government institutions and democratic politics have neither meaning nor value and are not authoritative. That is the difference. Where mistrust is a necessary element of democratic accountability and widespread mistrust is a sign of democratic failing, delegitimation is an active assault on democracy. — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 86

Categorization

• DEFINE: Crisp conceptual boundary between mistrust and delegitimation.
• XREF: connects to: Delegitimation erodes democracy slowly rather than through crisis or coup — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying: The New…, 42; New conspiracism abandons evidence while classic conspiracism theorizes it; Pseudoconservatives misdirect resentment at democratic form rather than economic inequality — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1797 (+7 more)

Broader Connections

• Distrusting government openly is a distinctively modern democratic innovation #qualifies (0.85) — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 504
• Pseudoconservatives misdirect resentment at democratic form rather than economic inequality #complicates (0.75) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1797
• Distrust of government is easier to ground rationally than trust #expands (0.75)
• Democratic spaces erode into nonexistence precisely when people idolize authoritarianism #expands (0.72) — James D. Kirylo (ed.), Reinventing Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 1343