When Trust Divides: Scandals, Populists, and the Fragility of Democratic Legitimacy

Political scandals are often viewed as moments of institutional failure or public disillusionment. This theoretical article reframes political scandals, particularly in public health contexts, as mediated symbolic arenas where competing trust cultures are surfaced, contested, and renegotiated. Introducing the concept of trust cultures as relational, culturally embedded frameworks, the article moves beyond individualistic and procedural understandings of trust, situating it within collective emotional economies and historical imaginaries. Through an analysis anchored in the Dengvaxia vaccine controversy in the Philippines, it demonstrates how scandals activate divergent trust cultures—parental, journalistic, institutional—each carrying distinct expectations and moral claims. Media representations and populist interventions further mediate these dynamics, either exacerbating trust fractures or offering possibilities for deliberative repair. By foregrounding the relational and cultural dimensions of trust, the article contributes to political communication, media studies, and democratic theory, highlighting that safeguarding democratic legitimacy requires attention not only to institutional reforms but also to the symbolic and emotional infrastructures through which trust is built, challenged, and transformed.