Understanding Right-wing Authoritarianism among Political Leaders Worldwide

• In Event: The Authoriarian Toolkit

Abstract

We compare the personality profile (Big Five and Dark Triad) of 110 candidates having competed in elections worldwide in the past 2 years. Using an innovative dataset based on the judgments of more than 1,300 experts in elections and political behavior, we show that Right-wing authoritarians (RWA) differ significantly from non-RWA candidates on several personality traits. They score significantly lower in agreeableness and emotional stability, even when compared with non-RWA candidates from the right, and score lower on openness but only when compared to non-RWA candidates from the left. Extraversion and conscientiousness do not differ significantly between RWA and non-RWA candidates. Authoritarians score significantly higher than non-RWA on the three traits of the Dark Triad, and especially psychopathy; they score significantly higher in narcissism and psychopathy even when compared to non-RWA candidates from the right. Looking at second-order factors, RWA candidates score particularly low on a first underlying dimension of agreeableness/conscientiousness/emotional stability.

Authors

• Alessandro Nai, University of Amsterdam

• Emre Toros, Hacettepe University