Conceptualization of Uncertainty and Trust after the COVID-19 Outbreak

This study underlines that we need concepts other than short-term events, stories, narratives, and facts for long-term analysis. In the short term, events and new data may be important. However, we need efforts to construct theory so that these data, events that take place can collectively imply something more meaningful. Theories, on the other hand, can be constructed more accurately and explained better with some concepts. In this study, two concepts were benefited to understand the long-term trends, especially in the economic field, and to put the events into a perspective. These concepts are “uncertainty” and “trust” that are very closely related to each other. In this article, the dimensions of uncertainty that emerged after COVID-19 were pointed out. These uncertainties include uncertainties regarding the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak as well as governance uncertainties on a global scale. Uncertainty in global production chains has been replaced by consumption uncertainty over time. The lack of global governance networks in building trust at a global level against all these uncertainties is emphasized. At the country level, the relationship of trust and uncertainty between the state, government, and the individual became more visible after the COVID-19 outbreak. The concepts of uncertainty and trust in this study should be used in efforts to understand and conceptualize the COVID-19 crisis.