Conferences

This paper offers a conceptual discussion of public trust, legitimacy and compliance in relation to legal authorities across Europe. We aim to shed some light on the relationship (and balance) between trust and legitimacy and how they relate to compliance. The discussion draws on a range of social-theoretical, psychological and sociological perspectives to show that trust and legitimacy are interrelated but distinct, and that both are based on and expressed through a range of underlying ideas, opinions and orientations – about police fairness, effectiveness and engagement with the community, for example. We distinguish between: institutional trust and encounter-based interpersonal trust; legitimacy as justification and as duty to obey; and opinions and feelings which attach to institutions and those which attach to organisations. These concepts will be found in different combinations, and be of variable importance, in different jurisdictions and/or social settings. The paper concludes with a discussion of some of the implications of the conceptual work.