The crisis has led to the country having one of the lowest political participation rates in the developed world - even below that of Palestine and Iraq.
But it is not just politicians who have lost the faith of the people as the police, the church, the banks and the media have also seen a decline in public trust, The MPs' expenses scandal and the handling of the Libor-rate rigging by banks were amongst the controversies which were blamed for damaging public trust.
The 2011 riots provided the country with an insight into the “unpredictable consequences of institutional breakdown”, the researchers for The Economist Intelligence Unit said.
They measured the health of democracy in 167 countries across the globe.
While Britain scored well for having open and free elections, it was found that an alarmingly low number of people - just over six in 10 - actually participated in politics.
Last year the police and crime commissioner elections only saw a turnout of 15 per cent, while turnout for by-elections has fallen below 50 per cent.
The participation rate was ranked below that of all the other major powers in Europe, and fell behind countries which are not even considered to have fully functions democracies - including Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq, Tunisia and Namibia.
For all of the categories, including civil liberties, Britain was ranked 16th out of 167 countries in 2012.
This placed it towards the bottom of the 25 nations considered to be a “full democracy” and the researchers warned that, had it not been for deteriorating conditions in other countries, it could have been worse.
Despite fears over the loss of democratic accountability in countries hit by the eurozone crisis, the UK was ranked below the Netherlands (10th), Ireland (13th) and Germany (14th).
The results led researchers to warn that the country is “beset by a deep institutional crisis” which is reflected in voter turnout, political party membership, and general attitudes toward politics.
“Trust in government, parliament and politicians is at an all-time low,” they said.
But they note that over the last few years the public mistrust of politicians and ruling institutions has had “ample cause to deepen, amid a series of scandals ranging from parliamentary expenses and "cash-for-questions" to Libor-fixing and payment protection scams, phonehacking and police cover-ups.”
The researchers, cited in the Daily Mail, warned: “'The elite reaction to the riots was a warning of what can happen when society's institutions are no longer clear what they stand for and do not function as they should.”
The slow reaction of the authorities to the rioting showed what would happen in the event of an institutional breakdown, and there are still stormy waters ahead as a gulf remains between the public and the ruling elite, they warned.
The deepest cuts to public spending since 1945 being pushed through by the coalition risk escalating resentment.