authoritarian nostalgia

Authoritarian Nostalgia, Group Sentiment, and Political Behavior

Legacies of an authoritarian past have enduring effects on voters’ attitudes and behaviors. I argue that authoritarian nostalgia is an important source of group sentiment and related behavior in post-authoritarian democracies. Voters with nostalgic sentiment construct heightened social identity connected to the past, exhibit strong group sentiment based on historical perception, and express attachment towards authoritarian successors.

Personality Traits, Democratic Support, and Authoritarian Nostalgia

Democratic rule has been the modal political system since the Third Wave of democratization, but nostalgia for authoritarian rule drives political behavior in many new democracies. Why do democratic voters feel nostalgia for an authoritarian past? This paper introduces a dispositional framework for authoritarian nostalgia by using individual democratic support as a moderator.