Acceptance of Autocracy in Germany in Times of Multiple Crises.

• In Event: Exploring Recent Trends in Policing and Social Control

Abstract

As part of the MOTRA (Monitoring and Transfer Platform Radicalization) research network, the University of Hamburg conducts several repeated, representative population surveys (18 years and above) in Germany.
Findings of the first three waves of Study 1 (2021 to 2023) show that the population in Germany is increasingly worried in the wake of the ongoing and diverse crises. At the same time, trust in state institutions (especially in the government and political parties) is declining and the subjective perception that key decision-makers in politics, business and science are unwilling or unable to tackle the current social challenges is increasing.
Results of Study 2 indicate that the increases in democratic distance and right-wing attitudes found in Study 1 are accompanied by a crisis-induced multiple and sometimes existentially threatening burden on large sections of the population, who, due to the associated loss of trust, demand supposed security, assertiveness and rapid crisis management and therefore are ready to abandon established democratic principles in favor of autocratic structures.
The paper explains the instruments used in these analyses and the actual findings on these relationships.

Authors

• Katrin Brettfeld, University of Hamburg

• Peter Wetzels, University of Hamburg

• Thomas Richter, German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA)