Chapter 13. Institutional trust and crisis management in high-trust societies : Rallies around the Nordic flags during the Covid-19 pandemic

Abstract

The so-called rally-around-the-flag effect, more succinctly known as the rally effect, has been prominently discussed in both academic and public discourse during the Covid-19 pandemic. The rally effect entails spikes in support for and trust in political leaders, governments, and state agencies during a crisis. This chapter assesses the validity of this theory in the Nordics during the early phases of the Covid-19 pandemic. By studying people’s support for the government, institutional trust, and belief in the government’s strategy, we identify a wide range of evident rally effects that occurred toward the beginning of the first wave of Covid-19, creating opportunities for successful instances of crisis communication. Overall, our results show similar basic patterns in the relationship between the citizens and the state across the Nordic countries, despite the different pandemic strategies adopted among them