The Ideological Legacies of Authoritarianism: Pro-dictator Bias in Ideology

• In Event: Public Support for Autocracy and Democracy

Abstract

How does an authoritarian past shape voters’ left-right orientation? Recent studies investigated ``anti-dictator bias’’ in political ideology that citizens of a former right-wing (left-wing) dictatorship may display an anti-right (anti-left) bias in their ideological self-identification. I argue ``pro-dictator bias’’ that citizens may hold ideological positions following those of the dictator based on three reasons: first, some autocrats are positively evaluated based on their economic performance; second, successors of former dictators still dominate politics in some countries by evoking authoritarian nostalgia; and third, the political environment that shaped former dictators’ ideology may persist under the new regime, prolonging the ideology’s relevance. I test this hypothesis across former developmental states in East and Southeast Asia, which were excluded in previous studies. I find strong rightist bias among the citizens of former developmental states, following former dictators’ nationalistic and anti-communist ideologies. I further investigate ideological bias by examining their preferences for specific policies, such as the role of the government, support for a bigger government, etc., to analyze whether the bias merely reflects sentiments toward the former ideological label or is rooted in specific policy preferences. These findings highlight the need to consider different legacies of former dictators on individual political orientations.

Author

• Sanghoon Kim-Leffingwell, Johns Hopkins University