Trust and Transparency in Multi-level Systems. A Comparison between France, United Kingdom and Germany

This project will utilise a mixed-methods design incorporating interviews, focus groups, a scoping analysis of secondary quantitative data and a cross-national survey to explore the role of trust and transparency within the context of multi-level governance. The core research question focuses on the extent to which a pan-European convergence in norms of trust has emerged and its relationship to transparency. The research will examine the interplay of trust and transparency within and between three EU states: the UK, France and Germany. Within each state the project will focus on one strong identity and one ‘instrumental’ region to explore the impact of factors such as varying identities, institutional configurations and resource profiles on trust and transparency.

A mixed methods research design will allow associations between multi-level governance and trust to be mapped comparatively
1). National Trust Profiles: quantitative scoping analysis – The RA will undertake secondary quantitative scoping analysis of the three EU member-states, with a view to compiling a cross-national ‘trust’ profile, designed to elicit variation in attitudes towards political institutions and policy arenas.
2). Regional Trust Profiles – The project will add value by undertaking a cross-national representative survey, with a target of 1000 individuals in each of our six regions, to be carried out as an online survey.
3). Qualitative data analysis: comparing policy communities and focus groups
The project will conduct semi-structured interviews with 72 actors in the UK, France and Germany. Interviews will occur with comparable members of the policy community in six regions on the basis of a semi-structured interview schedule that links trust and transparency to scalar preferences, institutional configurations, identity mixes, and perceptions of social and cultural capital and output legitimacy. Around 60 semi-structured interviews will take place across the six regions (10 per region), along with 4 interviews to capture the national and supranational levels in each country) (total 72 interviews). Interviewees in Wales, Saxony, Brittany, South-West England, Ile-de-France and Hesse will be drawn from functionally equivalent panels, determined via purposive sampling. Focus groups will allow for visual and oral comparisons of observable interactions in similar conditions in our regions. We propose to convene two groups in each region, to be held in short succession of each other, hence 12 groups in total.