Trust: The bedrock of great nations…

Introduction

“Memories are what reason is based on if we deny them we deny reason itself”. This is a quote from one of my favorite animated movies the killing joke. Why I particularly find it to be very striking is because of how it does a lot to explain the thought patterns of human beings and how our past experiences whether good or bad do a great deal in shaping our future actions every day of our lives. Every decision ever taken by anyone has been heavily scrutinized in that computer located inside of our heads and every time there are always questions originating from our past surging through our minds. Will there be a similar outcome to the last time? Will I benefit or miss out on the way I did the last time? What will my friends think about this now? Will they despise me again? Every time, every time one makes a massive decision the specter of our memories is always affecting us, influencing us every step of the way.

This is no different in the relationship between the public and the state. Past decisions and actions made by governments in power twenty years ago may have an adverse or positive effect on the way public opinion perceives the state and its adjacent institutions. Should their decisions have led to erosion of pension funds, increased unemployment, and widespread civil unrest, then the memory of the public will judge harshly and trust between the public and the state is going to be severed. But if the government instates policies that bring about solid infrastructure development, adequate health care and increases overall prosperity then a love affair between them and the public is sure to blossom. That is the way humans are designed and no matter how much we would like to ensure that our memory of dealing with a certain individual will not damper our future dealings with them for better or for worse that is just how people are. Good memories help to build trust, bad ones not so much and trust is always a crucial aspect in any sort of relationship one would care to mention.

In the world, we currently live in and this is worldwide it is pretty safe to say that the public have lost all faith with anything to do with government, mainstream media, and big business. Protest vote after protest vote, the rise of alternative media, and hell even some of the things said by mainstream politicians around the world all give testament to this. Think I am lying take a look at some of these quotes.

Bernie Sanders Democrat and US presidential candidate. “I think the American people are sick and tired of establishment politics and economics and by the way a little bit tired of corporate media as well they want real changes in this country”

Marie Le Pen National Front political leader responded to a question on hard talk about the growing animosity and distrust between the public and the state worldwide. “Yes, indeed there is something happening in the world. The people’s will is clearly emerging and challenging either super-national political powers such as the EU, or big financial powers, against a system which, for too many years, has been defending specific interests.”

Julius Malema in conversation with the Financial Times. “This ANC is rotten. We are here as a new generation”

These are just some of the few that I could pick out from the top of my head that are high profile politically and have shared these elements of distrust that seem to permeate the public at the present time about the establishment. But are they right..? This is what we will look at here and try to see where this growing sense of distrust between the ruling elite and the public stems from.

Globalization

I personally love the idea of globalization as because of it I have been able to live in and visit four countries in the last five years. I can access information at the click of a button on anything and I can literally communicate with friends across the world instantaneously which means maintaining relationships is as easy as 1, 2, 3. Many have benefited from this but there are some who might have felt it has destroyed the very fabric of their entire being.

I will take you back to 1993. Bill Clinton is giving an address after having signed the NAFTA trade agreement that would set up what was at the time the largest free trade agreement to date. In front of a euphoric crowd the 42nd president of the United States stipulated just how beneficial the landmark agreement would be not just to the three participating countries but to the rest of the world, this is what he had to say.

“I believe we have made a decision now that will permit us to make an economic order in the world that will promote more growth, more equality, better preservation of the environment and a greater possibility of world peace. We are on the verge of a global economic expansion that is sparked by the fact that the United States at this critical moment decided we would compete not retreat.”

Quite a mouth full! This would see the beginning of the mass exodus of manufacturing jobs from the global North to the Global South. And would mean that for all the prosperity created for people in Mexico and Canada — certain citizens would be left behind — particularly in the rust belt states. To the uninitiated, those are the states where the majority of the manufacturing plants that shipped production overseas at the advent of free trade were based. Nearly 4.5 million manufacturing jobs had been lost in key battleground states.

Fast forward to 2016 and the wife of the 42nd president is herself running for the most powerful position in world politics and is in a heated debate with Donald Trump who is vehemently against free trade or seems to be at this point during the campaign trail. When asked about NAFTA the very trade deal her husband signed into law 23 years earlier she had this to say in an interview with MSNBC.

“I have said repeatedly that I would like to re-negotiate it I think they were parts of it that did not work as hoped for but I think you have got to take a broader perspective. Where some jobs lost of course and was it painful that people lost their jobs and saw factories that they and their grandparents even had worked in pick up and move yes! I have come forward with some very strict proposals that if you are trying to move jobs out of America if you have ever gotten one penny out of government aid and lots of places have you are going to pay it all back.”

Going back to the theme of memories being the base for reason — if you were a middle-aged retrenched factory worker from an old General Motors plant that shut down and shipped production to Mexico — and you saw the wife of the man who basically signed away your job coming back to you asking for your trust in the form of a vote would you do so? Of course not! The memory of when your factory manager walked in and told you that you would have to be laid off would be fresh in your mind. This would have been the main reason for the huge protest vote and why President Trump’s message seems to have resonated more with voters in the rust belt states. case in point look at the map below.

Map of the 2016 presidential election

In states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Indiana, West Virginia the republican candidate trumped home at a canter. Excuse the pun. To the residents of these states, it was a classic case of fooling me once shame on you, fool me can’t get fooled again. And although Hilary might have been on to something a loss of a job which many consider being how dignity is inferred onto a human being, was just too much to bear. The 2016 election was considered to be a massive spit in the face of the so-called establishment of vested interests.

And this example is not just limited to America alone oh no. France’s current president the youngest leader since Napoleon Bonaparte was not a member of any mainstream political party. However, through a huge wave of anti-establishment sentiment, good looks, and a mix of socialist and business-friendly policies was able to beat in the second round another outsider in Far-right leader Marie Le Pen. The traditional top dogs like the Socialist party, Popular Republican Movement and the union of the new republic who have had years in the political mainstream all did not make it past the first round.

The politics preached by Le Pen and Macron — particularly Le pen leaned towards general distrust of anything foreign and had a hard line on free movement and aspects of trade even hinting at a potential Frexit — a doppelganger of Brexit which happened or is still happening in the UK. All those with horrendous memories of globalization have cause and reason to believe these hardliners and would rather trust them than those who got them to this point. Hence why former prime minister Francois Fillon — who at the time of the French election was marred in controversy could not even get into the second round — though his endorsement of Macron proved telling in the young up start’s subsequent victory.

Empty Promises and Independence

At the Back end of the 20th century, something spectacular happened. The former imperial powers finally had a moral epiphany and discovered that their years of colonization were indeed not in accordance with the values of human rights and self-determination. Sense at last— upon reaching this Eureka moment they would decide that maybe it might be a good idea for the indigenous population to be able to pave their own path — choosing their own leaders.

This resulted in freedom and liberation movements across Asia and Africa rising up — and in certain cases peacefully but in most cases not so much — gaining independence and being able to pave their own path. At the time a new wave of expectation hit individuals across the colonies worldwide. Optimism would hit 100 percent and with it came an unrealistic pressure on the new incumbents to deliver.

Since independence movements started gaining traction there have been over 200 successful and failed coups staged in Africa. The majority of them have taken place in Francophone countries and it has meant that the stability and continuity needed to be able to have adequate development has been lacking greatly. Though there has been a shift in terms of the discourse among African leadership towards economic and development-orientated politics, trust has been eradicated between them and the public.

This has led to the development of a large informal sector. Moreover, anyone and their dog will tell you that even though it provides a large amount of subsistence for citizens it leaves countries lacking in tax revenue, creates increases in child labor, and low job security. The average size of the Gross Domestic Product of the informal sector in sub-Saharan Africa is just over 41%. Can you imagine that 41% of production conducted in sub-Saharan Africa is not recorded in any formal channels. Madness to say the least.

Although many governments now seem to be looking to attempt to bring about solid change through business-friendly policies like fiscal incentives to small businesses and support infrastructure. The memories of the people’s past dealings with the government leave them in a perpetual state of distrust and this is now having a crippling effect on the economies of many developing countries.

No Trust no ceilings

“Trust is the glue of life it’s the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It is the foundational principle that holds all relationships”, the words of Stephen Covey. This principle applies in anything and everything not least so in the relationship between the state and its adjacent institutions and all those who constitute the general public. If you don’t have any trust kindly forget about cooperation that is how the world works simply as. We are at a crossroads as we speak right now with growing inequality, increasing unemployment, and budget deficits worldwide. Ten years ago the economy went into a deep recession, and problems that were seen in the days of the robber barons years ago began to emerge again.

Solving said problems requires cooperation between all members of society but without the requisite trust that institutions can safeguard the interests of the people effectively, this cooperation is unlikely to occur. The spirit of reconciliation and optimism that we witnessed in the late 20th century around the world is needed now more than ever but we must remember that like anything worthwhile rebuilding trust will take time as memories of disappointment are still fresh in the minds of many.