DET SAMISKA EU-FÖRTROENDET - EN ANOMALI - En jämförande studie av individuella förklaringsfaktorer till samiskt EU-förtroende

Abstract

The need for political trust is well established within the scientific community; it is a prerequisite for a well-functioning democratic society. The same applies to the European Union – for the union to continue its work it requires the trust of its citizens. In researching who trusts more or less, the absence of studies concerning minority groups is glaring. One of these minorities – and the EU’s only indigenous people – are the Sámi. Native to two EU member states, the Swedish Sámi are an interesting point of study due to their unexpected trust pattern when it comes to the EU. Having high institutional, general, and social trust all throughout, the Sámi still have the same, relatively low, amount of trust in the EU as the rest of the Swedish population. Research tells us that higher trust in other aspects should result in higher trust in EU and its institutions, but for some reason this is not applicable in this situation. The aim of this study is thus to further investigate the cause of this by comparing how explanatory factors – established by previous research – affect the Sámi trust in the EU and how the same factors affect the trust in the EU in the general Swedish population. The study also investigates the influence of the Sámi Parliament as well as the Sámi identity – as research dictates these should have an influence. Results of the analysis show that trust in the Sámi Parliament has a strong spill-over effect regarding trust in the EU, whereas Sámi identity – as it is defined in this study – is not a significant factor. This study shines light on several areas of research needing progress.