The authoritarian virus: Between infection and immunity An empirical investigation of authoritarian framing effects in 42 democracies

In his famous appeal against fascism, German philosopher Karl Loewenstein warned that democracy may one day be destroyed from within. To date, the fear of this authoritarian virus has not subsided. Many worry that exposure to this virus may end in infection, disease, or possibly even the death of democracy. They sound the alarm about the corrosion of democratic values, the weakening of democratic institutions, the rise of strongman politics, and the resurgence of the far-right. In this dissertation, I alleviate this pessimistic mood. I argue that exposure also helps build immunity. I test this claim by examining how citizens respond when they are exposed to a sample of the virus: an image of what living under authoritarian rule would look like. I use the term authoritarian framing effects to describe these responses. I develop empirical tests of authoritarian framing effects in 42 democracies. The results shed new light on the nature and effects of the authoritarian virus. Some of my findings justify the pessimistic mood of earlier work: Exposure corrodes democratic values, but only among some citizens in some countries and this is decreasingly so. More importantly, I find that the symptoms of immunity outweigh the symptoms of infection. I show that exposure to the image of authoritarian rule reaffirms democratic values and strengthens support for strategies of democratic defense among a growing number of citizens. These ‘immune’ citizens constitute a valuable safeguard against future authoritarian revival.