Over the last three decades, institution building has been at the core of international conflict resolution efforts in (post) conflict societies, and an integral part of peacebuilding and statebuilding. The assumption behind this practice is that functioning, representative, and democratic institutions, supported by citizens, foster peace and stability. While we find a lot of literature from political science, peace and conflict studies, and international relations on institutions in peacebuilding and statebuilding, there are not enough social psychology studies on the topic, given the expertise of social psychology on perceptions and attitudes. In this chapter, I will focus on two critical dimensions of institution building, a) perceptions of legitimacy of institutions after conflict on a societal level, and b) perceptions of trust in a post-conflict institution on an individual level.
