eprintid: 10184440
rev_number: 13
eprint_status: archive
userid: 699
dir: disk0/10/18/44/40
datestamp: 2024-02-02 12:31:13
lastmod: 2025-01-01 07:10:42
status_changed: 2024-02-02 12:31:13
type: thesis
metadata_visibility: show
sword_depositor: 699
creators_name: Sleiman, Yara
title: Rallying ‘round a failed state: Institutional trust in post-blast Beirut
ispublished: unpub
divisions: B03
divisions: C03
divisions: F30
divisions: UCL
note: Copyright © The Author 2023. Original content in this thesis is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Any third-party copyright material present remains the property of its respective owner(s) and is licensed under its existing terms. Access may initially be restricted at the author’s request.
abstract: Do crises caused by government negligence trigger a rally-round-the-flag effect? On August 4, 2020, one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history occurred in Beirut, Lebanon, resulting in hundreds of deaths, thousands of injuries, and extensive damage to infrastructure in the city. The explosion was caused by the detonation of 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate that had been stored unsafely in a port warehouse for several years. In this study, I ask whether exposure to the blast caused a shift in institutional trust. I leverage regional variations in blast exposure and pooled cross-sectional data from surveys conducted before and after the blast. Using a difference-indifferences design, I show that residents exposed to the blast exhibited an average increase in institutional trust of 9-25 percentage points compared to residents of unaffected areas. Trust in courts demonstrates a sustained and strengthening effect, while trust in the government, the army, and religious leaders diminishes over time. The results hold irrespective of respondents’ political affiliations and are robust to alternative specifications. An analysis of potential mechanisms shows that relief efforts likely facilitate the boost in trust, and alternative channels such as patriotism and opinion leadership are ruled out
date: 2023-12-28
date_type: published
oa_status: green
full_text_type: other
thesis_class: res_masters_embargoed
thesis_award: M.Phil
language: eng
primo: open
primo_central: open_green
verified: verified_manual
elements_id: 2135256
lyricists_name: Sleiman, Yara
lyricists_id: YSLEI62
actors_name: Sleiman, Yara
actors_name: Kalinowski, Damian
actors_id: YSLEI62
actors_id: DKALI47
actors_role: owner
actors_role: impersonator
full_text_status: public
pages: 74
institution: UCL (University College London)
department: Political Science
thesis_type: Masters
citation:        Sleiman, Yara;      (2023)    Rallying ‘round a failed state: Institutional trust in post-blast Beirut.                   Masters thesis  (M.Phil), UCL (University College London).     Green open access   
 
document_url: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10184440/2/Sleiman_10184440_Thesis.pdf