The Crisis of Trust in Democratic Institutions: Populism, Post-Truth Politics, and the Erosion of Social Capital as Threats to Civil Society Cohesion in Contemporary Political Systems

Abstract

The contemporary crisis of democratic trust represents one of the most consequential political transformations of the twenty-first century. Across established and emerging democracies alike, public confidence in democratic institutionsparliaments, judiciaries, electoral commissions, political parties, and mainstream mediahas declined precipitously, creating conditions of democratic fragility that are being systematically exploited by populist political entrepreneurs and accelerated by the epistemic disruptions of post-truth information ecosystems. This article examines the multidimensional dynamics of institutional trust erosion in contemporary political systems, with particular attention to the Indonesian case, through an integrative theoretical framework that synthesizes Robert Putnam's social capital theory, Cas Mudde and Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser's populism studies, and Hannah Arendt's political theory of truth, deception, and the public sphere. Drawing upon systematic review of empirical literature and secondary institutional trust survey data, the study identifies three interrelated mechanisms through which populism and post-truth politics erode the social capital foundations of civil society: (1) the delegitimation of epistemic authority, wherein the systematic dissemination of misinformation and the discrediting of expert and institutional knowledge undermine the shared factual reality upon which democratic deliberation depends; (2) the tribalization of political identity, wherein populist Manichaean narratives of 'pure people' versus 'corrupt elite' intensify bonding social capital within partisan communities while eroding the bridging capital that enables cross-cleavage democratic solidarity; and (3) the platformization of political affect, wherein social media algorithms structurally prioritize emotionally activating content over factually accurate information, producing self-reinforcing cycles of outrage, distrust, and political withdrawal. The Indonesian case, characterized by the interplay of democratic consolidation, Islamic political mobilization, digital media penetration, and oligarchic power dynamics, provides a particularly illuminating empirical context for these theoretical arguments. The findings carry significant implications for theories of democratic resilience and for policy efforts to strengthen civil society in the face of contemporary anti-democratic pressures.

Keywords

Democratic trust; populism; post-truth politics; social capital; civil society; Indonesia; Putnam; disinformation; democratic backsliding; political polarization