Speaking as a New Zealander, I think we have a much much smaller "disconnect" than some other countries. For us, I think the key factors are:

- Low levels of corruption [1]

- Easy voting with elections run by an independent body [2]

- Very strict election financing rules coupled with public funding of elections [3]

- A proportional election system [4]

- Relatively low inequality (though admittedly this is worsening) [5]

The result is high trust in our government and public institutions.

One thing noticeably absent is much direct democracy. We do occasionally have referendums -- for example, we recently voted on euthanasia (accepted) and legalization of drugs (rejected) -- but those actually have mixed reception as people can think of them as "cop-outs" by politicians.

[1] https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2020/table/nzl [2] https://elections.nz/about/about-the-electoral-commission/ [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_funding_in_New_Zeala... [4] https://elections.nz/democracy-in-nz/what-is-new-zealands-sy... [5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_wealth_in...