Political Myths as Cultural Factors of Authoritarian Regime Stability

Panel-I: In reference to the latest research on authoritarian regimes it becomes obvious, that institutional and economic legitimacy strategies can only be one piece of the puzzle for the explanation of regime stability. One reasonable culturalistic approach which might complement the existing research branches, can be found in the analysis of political myths. For the purpose of a qualitative comprehension of political culture they provide information about historical issues, that have developed a constituent reference to the existence of a political era and area. Political myths contain statements about the political community, the components of the regime and the authorities. In this context they fulfill a meaningful, identity-establishing and legitimizing function. Political myths offer proposals for the power of interpretation, which function as basic patterns of awareness and evaluation for political results. In order to that they are in need of a detailed analysis regarding their stabilizing and destabilizing effect.