ABSTRACT
This paper analyzes citizens’ trust in anticorruption agencies (ACAs) in Bangladesh and Nepal. An increase in trust over time should indicate that the agencies are performing according to citizens’ expectations. The data come from two waves of surveys. Our findings suggest that in the first wave trust patterns are similar for both countries; in the second wave, trust in ACAs in Nepal increased significantly. In explaining variations in trust, we found that trust was linked to citizens’ experiences with political processes, including their alienation from those processes and their perceptions of the trustworthiness of institutions, civil servants, and politicians in general.