The politics of presence: Why institutions need to be seen to be trusted

Across recent decades, trust in national institutions has reportedly weakened (Edelman Trust Barometer, 2026). Amidst this erosion of trust, the instinctive response from many institutions has been to focus on delivery. Governments point to infrastructure, regulators highlight outcomes, organisations publish metrics. The assumption here is that legitimacy is earned through results.

Yet reality is more complicated. Institutions often deliver tangible outcomes while struggling to win trust, while others maintain legitimacy disproportionate to their material performance. In this way, institutional legitimacy is often not shaped by delivery alone.

Political science has traditionally linked legitimacy to a social contract, in which institutions derive authority through their ability to provide security, order and services. But research suggests legitimacy can also be shaped by something less tangible: visibility. People are more likely to trust institutions when they can see them, interact with them, and feel recognised by them, regardless of whether outcomes fully meet expectations. 

South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission offers a useful example. Established after the end of apartheid, the Commission was not primarily a programme of material delivery. Rather, it was a public process of recognition. Victims were given a platform to tell their stories, communities were publicly acknowledged, and the new democratic state sought to demonstrate that groups previously excluded from political life had a place in the national conversation. Research on the Commission found that participation and exposure to the process was associated with greater forgiveness among South Africans, suggesting that visible acts of recognition and inclusion can play an important role in rebuilding legitimacy and social cohesion. 

A similar dynamic can be observed in Colombia. Research on conflict-affected regions found a seemingly counterintuitive trend: trust in national institutions was often higher in areas with weaker state capacity than in areas where government services were more established (Observatorio de la Democracia, 2023, 2024). Across these areas of low state capacity with little material delivery, proposed infrastructure projects, reconciliation initiatives and educational programmes served as signals of recognition, inclusion and connection to a wider national community. These gestures of visibility helped communities feel included even where material outcomes remained limited.

The lesson is not that delivery doesn’t matter, but that people evaluate institutions through both material and symbolic lenses. For communities distant from political and economic centres, visibility becomes a proxy for inclusion. A new road, consultation or investment programme may be judged not solely for its impact, but for what it communicates: that an institution recognises a community’s place within a broader social project.

This feels increasingly relevant today. Many organisations operate against economic uncertainty, geopolitical volatility and public scepticism, often responding by proving value through measurable outcomes. This can overlook a critical element of trust-building, which is helping stakeholders feel seen through institutional presence. 

The EU’s Cohesion Policy illustrates both sides of this problem. Brussels requires beneficiaries to install billboards, plaques and posters at funded project sites, an explicit attempt to convert spending into recognised presence. Yet where visibility fails to materialise, the effect is apparent: in the Netherlands, a fragmented, multi-provincial funding structure left EU-funded benefits largely intangible to citizens, limiting any boost to their identification with, or support for, the EU. In this case, the limited visibility of the institution providing the funding constrained its ability to convert policy delivery into public recognition, trust and political support.  

This is why engagement is often so powerful. Community forums, consultations and visible leadership are often dismissed as ‘soft’ next to delivery. Yet their value lies in making institutions present, turning them from distant entities into recognised participants in people’s lives. 

Reputation is not built solely through proving impact; it is built through connecting that impact to people’s lived experiences. The most successful institutions understand this instinctively; they demonstrate presence, create opportunities for participation, and make stakeholders feel represented in the story being told.