Interesting results of two surveys, one in the US and the other in the EU. Europeans trust the media much more than Americans do, but otherwise people in both the US and EU do not differ a great deal in how much trust they place in big institutions. Despite the differences in the American and European political systems, there is, largely, agreement between Americans and Europeans on how much to trust government, big businesses and trade unions.
What I find almost stunning is that people on both sides of the Atlantic appear to trust the UN more than their own governments. This just boggles my mind. Regardless of which side of the Atlantic you're on, your government is elected by you and your fellow citizens. There are checks and balances on what the governments can do and in every case a fair amount of transparency and freedom of speech that should ensure that elected representatives can be held accountable.
Where does any of that exist with the UN? The UN is a body of representatives, many (the majority?) who were appointed by governments who are neither elected nor accountable to their own people. Who holds the UN and its staff accountable?
