Leadership, Legitimation & Authoritarian Appeals

Abstract

This panel examines how political leadership, polarisation, and legitimation processes shape support for authoritarian appeals and democratic backsliding. The papers investigate the mechanisms through which leaders influence democratic attitudes, both by mobilising support and by undermining institutional constraints. Several contributions focus on citizen responses to leadership strategies, analysing who sanctions anti-establishment leaders, why some citizens support authoritarian policies, and how ideological positioning conditions engagement with antidemocratic proposals. Drawing on causal and multilevel evidence, the panel highlights the conditions under which authoritarian practices become normalised or resisted within democratic settings. Other papers examine broader dynamics of democratic erosion, linking leadership behaviour and polarisation to structural and institutional pathways of backsliding. Taken together, the panel offers new insights into the interaction between leadership, citizen attitudes, and ideological cleavages, contributing to a deeper understanding of how authoritarian appeals gain legitimacy and how democratic resilience may be weakened or defended.

Title	Details
Not All Threats Mobilize: Ideological Centrality and the Dynamics of Antidemocratic Engagement	View Paper Details
Leaders, Polarization and Democracy	View Paper Details
Who Punishes Antiestablishment Leaders? A Multilevel Analysis of Leaders Evaluations.	View Paper Details
The Mechanisms of Democratic Backsliding	View Paper Details
Why Do Citizens Support Authoritarian Policies? Causal Evidence from the Salvadoran-Gang-Crackdown	View Paper Details