Democracy and health

Traditionally the linkage between democracy and health has tended to be unidirectionally causal: democracy leads to better health outcomes. However, how individuals process problems and issues that affects their health can translate into a further eroding of trust in democratic and medical institutions. This chapter explores the idea that, under certain conditions and as a result of a long-history of medical misdeeds, health may also affect democracy and contribute to the general fifty-year decline in trust within democratic states.