The Psychological Underpinnings of Support for Authoritarianism: Evidence from Wartime Russia

Why do citizens support authoritarian regimes and their costly policies, even when these regimes restrict their rights and the policies impose significant personal or social burdens? Existing explanations of authoritarian durability emphasize material incentives, coercion and information control, but struggle to explain persistent popular support for costly wars and repressive policies. We argue that system justification thinking (SJT)—a psychological tendency to rationalize and defend the status quo even when it is disadvantageous—helps explain support for authoritarian regimes and their policies. Drawing on two original surveys conducted in Russia in 2023-25, we present three studies: Study 1 develops and validates new measures of SJT tailored to authoritarian contexts and shows that SJT strongly correlates with support for the leader and an aggressive foreign policy; Study 2 embeds a survey experiment and finds that while people high on SJT are more likely to support aggressive policies, they are still sensitive to costs that affect them directly; and Study 3 uses an experimental design to show that elite threat-based messaging can activate SJT, increasing support for political repression. Together, these studies demonstrate that system justification is both a distinct and a manipulable foundation for authoritarian support but one that has its limits too.