Today’s Problems, Yesterday’s Solutions? Authoritarian Legacies and the Anti-Democratic Origins of the Association between Ideological Orientation and Democratic Support

Democratic transitions are not necessarily accompanied by a complete separation with the authoritarian past. Prior research shows that authoritarian legacies leave a mark on the democratic structure of the ideological landscape, with leftist orientations indicating lower levels of democratic support in post left-wing authoritarian societies and rightist orientations indicating less support in post right-wing authoritarian societies. While the existence of this legacy has already been corroborated by several studies, we know very little about their persistence. Drawing on data from the European Values Study (1999-2008), the present study addresses this gap in the literature by looking at to what degree this association can be ascribed to a reactionary impulse, advocating the return to authoritarianism shortly after transition. We challenge the prevailing perspective assuming that this association may diminish alongside the process of democratic consolidation, whereby these anti-democratic sentiments tend to vanish. We do so by demonstrating that this association (1) also exists in mature democracies with a right-wing authoritarian legacy and (2) cannot be reduced to individuals' evaluation of or socialization under authoritarian rule.