Randomized trial explores the influence of the strongman narrative on citizen support for leaders amid democratic backsliding, highlighting significant implications.
Key Points
This research examines how the strongman narrative influences public support for leaders, particularly during periods of democratic decline.
Used directed acyclic graphs (DAGs) to model beliefs about causal processes.
Investigated the relationship between past support for authoritarian leaders and current citizen support behaviors.
Extended the model to analyze the impact of citizens’ concerns about democratic backsliding on narrative desirability.
Found that previous support for authoritarian leaders increases current citizen support incentives.
Belief in the strongman narrative boosts support among moderate citizens.
Identified that the strongman narrative is the most desirable for leaders under a variety of conditions, particularly when costs of backsliding are low.