This chapter lays further conceptual foundation for the book’s proposed trust-based framework. It applies to the citizen-government relationship what I call the ‘network conception of trust’ from the social science scholarship. In doing so, it makes a claim of how trust functions in the social rights context. According to this conception, trust arises in, and depends on, complex structures or networks of relationships. Applying this conception to the citizen-government relationship, the chapter argues that in contemporary democracies, the citizen-government relationship arises in a network of relationships and that trust in the citizen-government relationship depends on the relationships that constitute the network – including, importantly, the relationship between citizens and the courts that arises out of the adjudication of social rights by courts. This argument adds nuance to our understanding of trust and lays foundation for my contention in Chapter 4 that the courts, via their enforcement of social rights, can foster citizens’ trust in the elected branches.

The power sector has long been a major obstacle to development in Tanzania. This chapter reviews the reasons that make it so difficult to move from an institutional industry equilibrium that does not bring about desired outcomes in terms of power supply (investment, system expansion, and technical performance) to one that does. The Tanzanian power sector is largely organised as a vertically integrated state-owned monopoly. This model has largely failed across the region for decades. The (difficult) introduction of private power providers and the establishment of an independent regulator have not changed the situation substantially in Tanzania. Political interference has been a constant feature of Tanzania’s power sector. Through pressure on tariffs, this is responsible for its precarious financing. Several high-level corruption scandals involving top officials related to deals made with private providers have turned public opinion against greater reliance on privatisation. As reforming the power sector is hindered by political economy factors, Antonio Estache suggests in his discussion that more reliance should be put on the decentralisation that is being made possible by renewable energy technology.