Structures of Trust
English philosopher Thomas Hobbes identified conditions of trust as a crucial problem of governance in order to enable cooperation between humans, whom he pre-figured as being at permanent war with one another in our so-called ‘natural’ state. His Leviathan places emphasis on the enablement of trust through a centralized figure of the sovereign. The general principle of trust requiring a centralized guarantor (like the ECB to guarantee the function and relative value of currency) has been a hallmark of modern liberal governance in various derivative forms over centuries. As techniques of governance evolve in a networked age, the requirement that trust-enablement be bound to central authorities, is being questioned and redesigned, with decentralized models challenging these long-held norms.
Author: Patricia Reed