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Public trust is regarded as a social capital which is aimed at creating and consolidating unity in social systems and promoting democratic values. Trust establishes close relatiionship between citizens and Institutions which are soupposed to act as their representatives and, further, enhances legitimacy and effectiveness of the democratic government. This article first focuses on the definition, importance and typology of public trust in the framework of fiduciary trust, mutual trust and social trust and then suggests some approaches for confidence-building between the government and citizens. It also emphasizes that only
an average degree of trust will be functional and constructive.
While the people's emotional and radical trust towards the governemnt and the public sector managers can hinder criticism and reforn1 in their performance, by the same token, reduction of trust may call the legitimacy of a political system and public
administration into question.