Trust as a discourse: Concept and measurement strategy – First results from a study on German trust in the USA

This article conceptualises state-level trust and presents a measurement strategy. The widespread practice of relying on the state-as-person metaphor to analyse state behaviour is problematic when ideational trust concepts are concerned. The psychological component of these concepts overstretches state personhood. However, state-level trust can be conceptualised as a discourse in which trusting images predominate and mistrusting ones are largely absent. I discuss how a state-level trust discourse differs from ideational individual trust concepts and why - despite the ontological differences - there are several functional similarities between individual and state-level trust. After investigating several processes by which a trusting discourse can be established, I develop a content analytical method to measure trusting, neutral and mistrusting images. To establish the basic applicability of this method, results from a pilot study on German trust in the USA in the early 2000s are presented. The data show a significant change in the relative prominence of trusting and mistrusting images, which coincides with important political events such as 9/11 and the 2003 Iraq invasion.