The importance of trust in socio-environmental conflicts over energy in Chile: the cases of "Castille" and "Hidroaysen"

Modern social dynamics are related to increasing hazards and risks, a situation that is crystalized in socio-environmental conflicts that arise under different socio-spatial contexts, representing the existing tensions among contrasting interests. One of the social dimensions reported in the literature on the governance of risks that generate socio-environmental conflicts is trust, a variable that intervention models have not been able to account for in a satisfactory manner. Based on exploratory research using an integrated design, which included 6 focus groups and 15 semi-structured interviews, we examine the impact of trust on the relationship between social actors and public and private institutions in the conflicts over the proposed thermoelectric (Castilla) and hydroelectric (Hidroaysen) projects in Chile. The results highlight that competence and behavioral consistency (objective variables), along with compassion, integrity, a sense of justice and the compliance with promises (subjective variables) explain the relationships, tensions, conflicts and conflict resolution in the cases analyzed.