Distrust of the State: A Call for Greater Listening Rather Than a Rejection of Democracy, Say Two Political Scientists
In an op-ed published by Le Monde, political scientists Timothée Duverger and Manon Réguer-Petit argue that the crisis of confidence in institutions reflects above all a sense that citizens feel unheard by elected officials.
An op-ed published on September 9, 2026 in Le Monde, signed by political scientists Timothée Duverger and Manon Réguer-Petit, offers an analysis of growing citizen distrust toward democratic institutions.
According to the two researchers, this distrust should not be interpreted as democratic disengagement or as a sign of increasing individualism within the population. Instead, they argue that it reflects a widespread feeling: that political leaders are no longer taking sufficient time to listen to citizens.
The authors contend that this crisis of confidence actually expresses a demand—for elected officials to better take into account the expectations of the population. According to their analysis, it is less a rejection of democratic principles than a call for transformation of political and institutional practices.
Timothée Duverger and Manon Réguer-Petit urge, in their op-ed, a rethinking of how elected officials and citizens listen to and dialogue with one another, in order to address what they describe as a legitimate expectation rather than a symptom of democratic decay.
Sources
- « La défiance à l’égard de l’Etat n’est pas un désengagement démocratique, mais la demande d’une meilleure prise en compte des citoyens par les élus » — Le Monde — Une
EGazette summarizes reporting from multiple sources; follow the links for the originals.
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