Word: trusts
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...institutions appears to be waning. On the eve of the World Economic Forum in Davos, we look at the reasons for this credibility crisis?and, in a series of profiles, get the bottom-up view from people whose stories of disaffection and alienation may contain clues for rebuilding the trust that binds nations and communities together...
...amplified and diffused to a mass audience, whether the gripers are retired Americans whose pension benefits have been slashed or Chinese peasants who have lost their farmland to the nation's torrid industrialization. A recent WEF poll of more than 20,000 people in 20 countries revealed that public trust in national governments, the U.N. and multinational companies dropped significantly over the past two years and is now close to the lows recorded after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. A separate worldwide poll, conducted this month by Gallup International for the WEF, found that...
...charlatans? Why work if all companies are crooked? Today, "Anyone with a beef can start a conspiracy theory," says Frank Furedi, a controversial sociology professor at Britain's University of Kent, who argues that deference to traditional authorities is being replaced by reverence for new ones. "We don't trust politicians but we have faith in the pronouncements of celebrities. We are suspicious of medical doctors but we feel comfortable with healers who mumble on about being 'holistic' and 'natural.' We certainly don't trust scientists working for the pharmaceutical industry but we are happy to listen to the disinterested...
...Trust matters. If the world habitually second-guesses authorities who are accountable, however inadequately, we may find ourselves ill-prepared to meet the huge challenges posed by globalization. "In periods of great economic and technological change, trust can reduce the political, social, economic and emotional friction that often locks systems and organizations solid," says John Elkington, founder of a nongovernmental organization called SustainAbility that focuses on corporate responsibility and sustainable development. Even NGOs are affected, Elkington notes. Groups such as Greenpeace and Amnesty International have led the attack against companies and governments, and a WEF poll shows that NGOs today...
...spending money is no guarantee that trust will be quickly won back. At least 17 people died earlier this month after an attack by armed militants on a Shell facility in the Niger Delta only days after four oil workers were kidnapped. Corporate alliances with some activist groups are often viewed suspiciously or derided as "greenwash" by more radical NGOs. Furedi, the University of Kent sociology professor, says that companies may ultimately be more hurt than helped if they try to make over their public image too aggressively, because they risk repudiating who and what they really...