GOVTRUST Centre of Excellence

Trust in legal systems and regulatory regimes

Summary

Many interactions in our day-to-day lives are predicated on our trust in the underlying legal and regulatory system. For instance, when faced with the uncertainty of ascertaining a product's safety, we substitute our limited knowledge of that product's technical features with trust in product safety standards developed under EU law. Similarly, when considering whether to enter into a contractual agreement with a company, we are sometimes capable of overcoming the uncertainty surrounding the other party's compliance to the agreement due to our knowledge of that counterpart's obligations under consumer protection law. Under this theme, we investigate how such 'trust triangles', in which an individual's trust in another private actor is substituted with trust in a legal or regulatory regime, are functional for both interpersonal and interorganizational relations. Moreover, we investigate what features in regulation are beneficial or dysfunctional to trust relations.

Related publications

  • Bentzen, T. Ø., Winsvold, M., & Six, F. (2026). Beyond the birdcage: Building trust in different regulatory contexts. Public Management Review, 1-27. https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2026.2623188​
  • Frateur, J., Popelier, P., Bursens, P., & Duarte Coroado, S. (2026). Gaining trust through consultation? How intergovernmental interactions influences citizens’ political trust in times of crisis. Territory, Politics, Governance, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1080/21622671.2026.2624503​
  • Herrebosch, N., Willems, C., & Popelier, P. (2026). Breaking open the dichotomy between goal-based and rule-based regulation: a discretion index for evaluating regulatee discretion. The Theory and Practice of Legislation, 14(1), 165-195. https://doi.org/10.1080/20508840.2026.2622290​
  • Joosen, R., Verhoest, K., Redert, B., & Bursens, P. (2026). Keep your principals close, but your stakeholders closer: how agencies use stakeholders to bolster their authority. Journal of European Public Policy, 1-27. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13501763.2026.2627371​
  • Peeters, E., Duarte Coroado, S., Nõmmik, S., Verhoest, K., & Randma-Liiv, T. (2026). EU-level crisis governance: Hybrid patterns in times of crisis. International Journal of Public Sector Management, 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPSM-07-2025-0355​
  • Rangoni, B. (2026). Experimentalist governance. In Elgar Encyclopedia of Business and Government (pp. 137-142). Edward Elgar Publishing. https://www.elgaronline.com/display/book/9781035307784/chapter25.xml​
  • Rangoni, B., & Thatcher, M. (2026). Re-politicising merger policy: Regulating foreign takeovers in Britain and Italy. New Political Economy, 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1080/13563467.2026.2628837​
  • Redert, B., van Heerebeek, A., Maman, L., & Pérez-Dúran, I. (2026). Being friends or being favored? The drivers of stakeholder trust in regulatory agencies. Journal of European Public Policy, 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2026.2641682
  • Redert, B., Guaschino, E., Pérez-Durán, I., Papadopoulos, Y., Verhoest, K., & Triviño-Salazar, J. C. (2026). Trust Me, I’m an Expert: Evaluating the Relation Between Expertise and Trust in Regulators. Governance, 39(3), e70129. https://doi.org/10.1111/gove.70129
  • Verhoest, K., Maggetti, M., Redert, B., Latusek, D., and Jordana, J. (2026). Strengthening Trust by Design: A QCA Study of Design Choices in Regulatory Regimes. Regulation & Governance, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1111/rego.70146​
  • Frateur, J., & Popelier, P. (2025). Revising the efficiency vs. legality debate: a trust perspective on crisis legislation. The Theory and Practice of Legislation, 1-27. https://doi.org/10.1080/20508840.2025.2583902​
  • Glavina, M., & van Zimmeren, E. (2025). 11: Trust in courts and judicial systems: a conceptual and methodological review. In: Six, F., Hamm, J. A., Latusek, D., Van Zimmeren, E., & Verhoest, K. (Eds.). Handbook on Trust in Public Governance. Elward Elgar Publishing. https://www.elgaronline.com/edcollchap/book/9781802201406/chapter11.xml​
  • Joosen, R. (2025). Is That a Threat? How Types of Stakeholder and Reputational Threat Matter for Gaining Influence in Regulatory Rulemaking. Regulation & Governance. https://doi.org/10.1111/rego.70027
  • Latusek, D., Pikos, A., Six, F., & Wardaszko, M. (2025). Citizen Trust in Regulators: Evaluating the Validity of the CTGO-Scale in Transitioning Societies. Regulation & Governance. https://doi.org/10.1111/rego.70055​
  • Maggetti, M., Verhoest, K., Trondal, J., Proszowska, D., & Schomaker, R. (2025). Trust in multilevel governance settings: Examining the congruence hypothesis for actors in regulatory regimes. Journal of European Public Policy, 1-30. https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2025.2517296​
  • Perez-Duran, I., Papadopoulos, Y., Redert, B., & Triviño-Salazar, J. C. (2025). Does the Background of the Regulator Matter? The Role of Expertise and Diversity on the Perceived Competence of Regulatory Bodies. Regulation & Governance. https://doi.org/10.1111/rego.12654
  • Pérez-Durán, I., & Verhoest, K. (2025). Trust in nursing home services within weak regulatory regimes: The role of information, control and participation. Public Management Review, 1-27.https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2025.2509671​
  • Rangoni, B. (2023). Experimentalist Governance: From Architectures to Outcomes. Oxford University Press.
  • Rangoni, B. (2023). Il futuro sperimentale della regolazione. La regolazione digitale e farmaceutica nell’Unione Europea. Rivista Italiana di Politiche Pubbliche, 1/2023. https://doi.org/10.1483/106819
  • Rangoni, B., & Thatcher, M. (2023). Re-Politicising Merger Policy: Regulating Foreign Takeovers in Britain and Italy. EIQ Discussion Paper Series at LSE, EIQ Paper No. 178. https://www.lse.ac.uk/european-institute/Assets/Documents/LEQS-Discussion-Papers/EIQPaper178.pdf
  • Six, F. E., Glavina, M., Verhoest, K., & Pepermans, K. (2023). What drives compliance with COVID-19 measures over time? Explaining changing impacts with Goal Framing Theory. Regulation & Governance, 17(1), 3-21. https://doi.org/10.1111/rego.12440​
  • Van Zimmeren, E. (2023). Trusting the Unified Patent Court: The importance of the institutional design of the UPC and its judges. In D. Matthews & P. Torremans (Red.), European Patent Law: The Unified Patent Court and the European Patent Convention. Walter De Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110781687-015
  • Popelier, P., Glavina, M., Baldan, F., & van Zimmeren, E. (2022). A research agenda for trust and distrust in a multilevel judicial system. Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law, 29(3), 351-374. https://doi.org/10.1177/1023263X221096026
  • Wynen, J., Op de Beeck, S., Verhoest, K., Glavina, M., Six, F., Van Damme, P., Beutels, P., Hendrickx, G., & Pepermans, K. (2022). Taking a COVID-19 Vaccine or Not? Do Trust in Government and Trust in Experts Help Us to Understand Vaccination Intention? Administration & Society, 54(10), 1875-1901. https://doi.org/10.1177/00953997211073459
  • Lindenberg, S., Six, F., & Keizer, K. (2021). Social Contagion and Goal Framing: The Sustainability of Rule Compliance. In B. van Rooij & D. D. Sokol (Eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Compliance (pp. 422-437). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108759458.029
  • Marneffe, W., Popelier, P., Jans, T., Van Aeken, K., & De Beckker, K. (2021). Methodologische onderbouwing en conceptuele uitwerking van het gebruik van doelregelgeving en open normen met behulp van experimentwetgeving en regelluwe zones binnen het omgevingsrecht van de Vlaamse overheid. Interuniversitair Centrum voor Wetgeving (ICW).
  • Mathieu, E., Matthys, J., Verhoest, K., & Rommel, J. (2021). Multilevel regulatory coordination: The interplay between European Union, federal and regional regulatory agencies. Public Policy and Administration, 36(3), 343-360. https://doi.org/10.1177/0952076719886736
  • ​Popelier, P. (2021). Subnational constitutionalism in Belgium: A matter of abstained maturity. In P. Popelier, G. Delledonne, & N. Aroney (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of Subnational Constitutions and Constitutionalism (pp. 66-79). Routledge.
  • Popelier, P., Delledonne, G., & Aroney, N. (Eds.). (2021). Routledge Handbook of Subnational Constitutions and Constitutionalism. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003052111
  • Popelier, P., Gentile, G., & van Zimmeren, E. (2021). Bridging the gap between facts and norms: Mutual trust, the European Arrest Warrant and the rule of law in an interdisciplinary context. European Law Journal, 27(1-3), 167-184. https://doi.org/10.1111/eulj.12436
  • Popelier, P., & Van de Heyning, C. (2021). De pandemie als stresstest voor legaliteit in het Belgische grondwettelijke bestel. Tijdschrift voor mensenrechten, 19(3), 25-28.
  • Wynen, J., Op de Beeck, S., Verhoest, K., Glavina, M., Six, F. E., Van Damme, P., Beutels, P., Hendrickx, G., Pepermans, K., & Verlinden, S. (2021). Vertrouwen en vaccinatietwijfel in Vlaanderen. De invloed van vertrouwen in de overheid en experts op de bereidheid om zich te laten vaccineren tegen COVID-19. Vlaams Tijdschrift voor Overheidsmanagement, 2021-1, 9-25.
  • Levi-Faur, D., Maman, L., Kariv-Teitelbaum, Y., Medzini, R., Latusek, D., Verhoest, K., Six, F., Kleizen, B., Popelier, P., Glavina, M., Van Zimmeren, E., Maggetti, M., Schomaker, R., Kappler, M., Fahy, L., van Erp, J., & Grimmelikhuijsen, S. (2020). Report on trust in government, politics, policy and regulatory governance: Deliverable D1.1. https://hdl.handle.net/10067/1837490151162165141
  • Popelier, P. (2020). COVID-19 legislation in Belgium at the crossroads of a political and a health crisis. The Theory and Practice of Legislation, 8(1-2), 131-153. https://doi.org/10.1080/20508840.2020.1771884
  • Popelier, P. (2020). Crisisbeheer per ministerieel besluit. Tijdschrift voor wetgeving, 2020-4, 282-291.
  • Popelier, P. (2020). The Duty of Parliament to Adopt Reliable Legislation: Linking Trust in Parliament with Legitimate Expectations. In M. De Benedetto, N. Lupo, & N. Rangone (Eds.), The crisis of confidence in legislation (pp. 243-257). Hart & Nomos. doi.org/10.5771/9783748907244​
  • Popelier, P. (2020). Law and time in two dimensions: legitimate expectations in the Case Law of the Court of Justice of the European Union. In Ranchordás, S. & Roznai, Y. (Eds.). Time, law, and change: an interdisciplinary study (p. 117-142). Oxford: Hart Publishing.
  • González, C., & Verhoest, K. (2020). De facto regulatory decision-making processes in telecommunications regulation: Explaining influence relationships with exponential random graph models. Journal of Public Policy, 40(1), 144-170.
  • Ovádek, M., Wijtvliet, W., & Glavina, M. (2020). Which Courts Matter Most? Measuring Importance in the EU Preliminary Reference System. European Journal of Legal Studies, 12(1), 121-155.​



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