Endogenous popularity: how perceptions of support affect the popularity of authoritarian regimes
Being popular makes it easier for dictators to govern. A growing body of scholarship therefore focuses on the factors that influence authoritarian popularity. However, it is possible that the perception of popularity itself affects incumbent approval in autocracies. We use framing experiments embedd...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press
2023
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| _version_ | 1811141123939237888 |
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| author | Buckley, NOAH Marquardt, KL Reuter, ORAJ Tertytchnaya, K |
| author_facet | Buckley, NOAH Marquardt, KL Reuter, ORAJ Tertytchnaya, K |
| author_sort | Buckley, NOAH |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | Being popular makes it easier for dictators to govern. A growing body of scholarship therefore focuses on the factors that influence authoritarian popularity. However, it is possible that the perception of popularity itself affects incumbent approval in autocracies. We use framing experiments embedded in four surveys in Russia to examine this phenomenon. These experiments reveal that manipulating information - and thereby perceptions - about Russian President Vladimir Putin's popularity can significantly affect respondents' support for him. Additional analyses, which rely on a novel combination of framing and list experiments, indicate that these changes in support are not due to preference falsification, but are in fact genuine. This study has implications for research on support for authoritarian leaders and defection cascades in nondemocratic regimes. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T08:07:33Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:0d6d8b64-12a8-4db1-9ed4-4e39e0d27957 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-25T04:32:53Z |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:0d6d8b64-12a8-4db1-9ed4-4e39e0d279572024-09-09T09:59:21ZEndogenous popularity: how perceptions of support affect the popularity of authoritarian regimesJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:0d6d8b64-12a8-4db1-9ed4-4e39e0d27957EnglishSymplectic ElementsCambridge University Press2023Buckley, NOAHMarquardt, KLReuter, ORAJTertytchnaya, KBeing popular makes it easier for dictators to govern. A growing body of scholarship therefore focuses on the factors that influence authoritarian popularity. However, it is possible that the perception of popularity itself affects incumbent approval in autocracies. We use framing experiments embedded in four surveys in Russia to examine this phenomenon. These experiments reveal that manipulating information - and thereby perceptions - about Russian President Vladimir Putin's popularity can significantly affect respondents' support for him. Additional analyses, which rely on a novel combination of framing and list experiments, indicate that these changes in support are not due to preference falsification, but are in fact genuine. This study has implications for research on support for authoritarian leaders and defection cascades in nondemocratic regimes. |
| spellingShingle | Buckley, NOAH Marquardt, KL Reuter, ORAJ Tertytchnaya, K Endogenous popularity: how perceptions of support affect the popularity of authoritarian regimes |
| title | Endogenous popularity: how perceptions of support affect the popularity of authoritarian regimes |
| title_full | Endogenous popularity: how perceptions of support affect the popularity of authoritarian regimes |
| title_fullStr | Endogenous popularity: how perceptions of support affect the popularity of authoritarian regimes |
| title_full_unstemmed | Endogenous popularity: how perceptions of support affect the popularity of authoritarian regimes |
| title_short | Endogenous popularity: how perceptions of support affect the popularity of authoritarian regimes |
| title_sort | endogenous popularity how perceptions of support affect the popularity of authoritarian regimes |
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