(see also Cohen, 1997, 19-20; Levi, 1998, 87; Misztal, 1996, 198; Offe, 1999; Pagden, 1988,
139) A strong legal system would create a sense of social insurance for ordinary citizens:
Neither their fellow citizens nor the government could exploit them if there were an independent
and honest judiciary that ensured compliance with the law. Trusting others would be less risky.
In the West, so the argument goes, where there is relatively little corruption,
people see their societies as honest and therefore trust each other and their governments more
than in more corrupt societies. In the formerly Communist societies, people see corruption all
around them and lose faith in others and their system. The Communist regimes created much
distrust from above (see below), so there is more than a bit of evidence that elite malfeasance
sends a powerful signal to the mass public. Crime rates are higher in societies with lower levels
of trust (Uslaner, 2002, chs. 7 and 8). And there is at least a modest correlation between trust in
the legal system and faith in other people in Sweden (Rothstein, 2001, 492).
As compelling as Rothstein’s argument seems, it is misplaced. Rothstein’s
evidence for a linkage between trust in the legal system and faith in others comes entirely from
one rather atypical Western democracy, Sweden. Sweden has the highest level of trust of any
country surveyed in the World Values Studies and is one of the least corrupt countries in the
world. The Swedish model may not transfer to formerly Communist nations. Even if there is a
connection between a strong legal system and trust in fellow citizens, the causal direction is more
likely to go from faith in others to confidence in the law (Uslaner 2002: 243-245). Swedes and
other Westerners can develop strong legal systems because people trust each other. Trusting
people endorse strong standards of moral behavior and say that it is wrong to take advantage of
others, especially those who are more vulnerable (Uslaner 1999a, 1999b). Sweden is, in John
Rawls’s terminology, a “well-ordered society,” where “everyone accepts and knows that the
others accept the same principles of justice, and the basic social institutions satisfy and are
known to satisfy these principles” (Rawls 1971: 454). The roots of this moral sentiment rest upon
a commitment to social justice and concern for those less well off, hallmarks of the Swedish
welfare state (Rawls 1971: 454, 462). A well-ordered society depends upon a shared sense of
justice. In Romania and other formerly Communist countries, the strong arm of the state and
rampant corruption make people skeptical that there is any equitable system of justice. Dealing
Convention