On Trust in Political Institutions in the Context of Challenges of Deliberative Democracy

The article reveals the main areas of research of deliberative democracy and the crisis of trust. It states that the concept of deliberative democracy is aimed at overcoming the crisis of representative democracy through the involvement of citizens in a rational dialogue to form a public consensus. The conducted analysis allows us to note that the implementation of deliberative democracy faces challenges associated with the lack of fair procedures and growing distrust of political institutions. The deliberative model emphasizes the role of public discussion and reasoned dialogue as the basis for the legitimacy of political decisions. The study identifies problems in the implementation of deliberative procedures, such as lack of inclusiveness, when public dialogue is often limited to a narrow circle of elites, which excludes less prepared citizens from the political process; the use of manipulation and populism tools, when the media and elites deliberately distort information, replacing rational discourse with emotional narratives. In conclusion, the author states that ways to strengthen trust are possible through deliberative mechanisms, such as digitalization, which allows the use of online platforms for mass participation, initiatives in the direction of political education, openness of data and decisions, when a high level of trust correlates with an effective model of political governance.