From trust to trusting: Bringing a practice perspective to bear on trust research in International Relations

Abstract

In this analytical essay, I aim to advance the debate on trust in International Relations (IR) by clarifying how trust can be understood in practice-theoretical terms. To this end, I build on recent IR scholarship that has shifted from viewing trust as a mental state to viewing it as an active process through which social actors relate to one another—that is, as trusting. To clarify what this shift entails and initiate a more systematic dialogue between the dynamic yet still largely unconnected literatures on trust in international politics and on international practices, I proceed as follows: first, I survey how IR scholars have thought about trust thus far; second, I identify three commitments that give coherence to the emerging practice-theoretical literature on trust, namely, a focus on relations, processes, and agency; and third, I outline three theoretical options for studying trust in practice-theoretical terms: conceiving of trust as a product of practices, as a background of practices, or as itself a practice.