From trust to trusting. Bringing a practice perspective to bear on trust research in International Relations
In this analytical essay, Tobias Wille aims to advance the debate on trust in International Relations (IR) by clarifying how trust can be understood in practice-theoretical terms. To this end, Wille builds on recent IR scholarship that has shifted from viewing trust as a mental state to viewing it as an active process through which social actors relate to one another—that is, as trusting. To clarify what this shift entails and to initiate a more systematic dialogue between the dynamic yet still largely unconnected literatures on trust in international politics and on international practices, Wille proceeds as follows: first, he surveys how IR scholars have thought about trust thus far; second, he identifies three commitments that give coherence to the emerging practice-theoretical literature on trust, namely, a focus on relations, processes, and agency; and third, he outlines three theoretical options for studying trust in practice-theoretical terms: conceiving of trust as a product of practices, as a background of practices, or as itself a practice.