The Power of Trust: A comparative analysis on the impact of political trust on excess mortality in Sweden and Norway during the covid-19 pandemic

Abstract: The covid-19 pandemic has left an irreversible impact of an immense magnitude on the world. Over six million people have died after contracting the virus, and millions more are grieving and living with the aftermath of a loss of a family member. In Europe, countries have chosen different ways to tackle and curb the spread of the virus with varying degree of success, In order to save lives, compliance from their citizens to the policies and restrictions imposed has been vital. Theory demonstrates that higher levels of political trust will result in higher levels of compliance from the citizens to government guidelines. Despite this, countries with similar levels of political trust at the onset of the pandemic have seen vastly different outcomes of the pandemic. This paper aims to examine the relationship between political trust and excess mortality by conducting a quantitative analysis on 25 countries in Europe which examines the relationship between political trust and excess mortality and a comparative case study analysis on Sweden and Norway based on most-similar-design. The findings indicate that there is a general negative correlation between political trust and excess mortality across European countries. Differences in political communication and government performance appears to be explanatory factors to the different levels of excess mortality in Sweden and Norway. These factors in turn influence the levels of political trust in the two countries, which seemingly has contributed to Norway’s lower levels of excess mortality during the covid-19 pandemic.