02033pab a2200133 454500008004000000100002600040245005500066260000900121300001400130362000900144520166800153650002601821773005201847180718b2005   xxu||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d  aVries, Michael S. de.  aTrust and governance practices among local leaders  c2005  ap.405-24.  aSep.  aThis article investigates patterns of generalized trust among local political and administrative leaders. It explains the differences therein and studies the impact of such truct on the inclination to involve people in policy-making processes. The research is based on a survey among approximately 16,000 local administrators and politicians in 665 communities in 18 countries. The findings are analyzed using a multi-level model. It is found that generalized trust among local policy-makers, as a form of low-level risk, can be explained by the judgment about past experiences with public participation, the judgment of the abilities of the constituency and the scope of problems in the community. Regarding the impact  trust on the propensity to involve people in the policy-making process, significant differences are found between old, new and newest democracies. In the old democracies there is hardly and generalized trust on the other hand. The severity of social problems has in these countries a positive effect on involving citizens. In the new and especially the newest democracies, the relation between trust and support-seeking behavior is significantly stronger. When problems become less urgent in those countries and the local policy-maker does show generalized trust,, (s)he is significantly more inclined than his/her colleagues to seek the support of the people. This implies that there might exist a paradox, namely that in order to enhance practices of good governance, claiming these are more effective, one already needs a society in which policy-making is relatively effective and that has adequate problem-solving capacity.  - Reproduced.  aPublic administration  aInternational Review of Administrative Sciences