Perceived Threats and Attitudes toward Authoritarianism

• In Event: What Comes Next?: Analyzing Post-Conflict Societies

Abstract

It is considered a truism that feelings of threat and insecurity cause citizens to become less tolerant, more willing to accept restrictions on civil liberties, and more supportive of the use of force against the source of threat. But most of the studies on which this knowledge is based come from established democracies and do not distinguish between threats to individuals and threats to the state. I analyze a survey experiment of Georgia, Kazakhstan, and the U.S. that tests how priming respondents with an internal or external threat affects attitudes toward democracy and human rights. I test an institutional mechanism: how regime type channels anxiety and conditions support for harsh measures. I find that external threats lead to more rallying around the government and support for harsh measures against citizens than internal threats regardless of regime type, but that the more democratic a regime is, the more likely it is that internal threats will lead people to blame the government and resist intolerant measures against fellow citizens. The findings contribute to literatures on the rally-round-the-flag effect, the link between threats and tolerance, and the ways that political institutions mediate psychological processes.

Author

• Scott B. Radnitz, University of Washington