Lustration and Trust in Central and East Europe : Scope, Timing, and Severity of Lustration and Citizen Trust in Public Institutions

Much has been theorized about the impact of lustration policies, a regional form of transitional justice focused on employment vetting, on the process of democratic consolidation in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Advocates of lustration highlight the alleged positive contributions of lustration to the restoration of trust in public institutions. In contrast, opponents of lustration stress the potential for lustration to violate individual rights and freedoms, thereby undermining trust in public institutions. Using quantitative data on nine countries in CEE over an eight year time period, this study examines the timing, scope, and intensity of lustration in order to test the impact, if any, on citizen perceptions of the trustworthiness of public institutions. This paper finds that lustration consistently and positively contributes to trust in public institutions. While the timing of lustration is important in effecting trust in a small subset of public institutions, timing is less important than originally theorized across a range of public and semi-public institutions. The process of lustration matters substantially. Even controlling for economic growth, democratization, and corruption levels, lustration measures consistently and positively contribute to levels of public institutional trust in countries in CEE