TY - JOUR
T1 - Sociopolitical consequences of COVID-19 in the Americas, Europe, and Asia
T2 - A multilevel, multicountry investigation of risk perceptions and support for antidemocratic practices
AU - Pizarro, José J.
AU - Cakal, Huseyin
AU - Méndez, Lander
AU - Zumeta, Larraitz N.
AU - Gracia-Leiva, Marcela
AU - Basabe, Nekane
AU - Navarro-Carrillo, Ginés
AU - Cazan, Ana Maria
AU - Keshavarzi, Saeed
AU - López-López, Wilson
AU - Yahiiaiev, Illia
AU - Alzugaray-Ponce, Carolina
AU - Villagrán, Loreto
AU - Moyano-Díaz, Emilio
AU - Petrović, Nebojša
AU - Mathias, Anderson
AU - Techio, Elza M.
AU - Wlodarczyk, Anna
AU - Alfaro-Beracoechea, Laura
AU - Ibarra, Manuel L.
AU - Michael, Andreas
AU - Mhaskar, Sumeet
AU - Martínez-Zelaya, Gonzalo
AU - Bilbao, Marian
AU - Delfino, Gisela
AU - Carvalho, Catarina L.
AU - Pinto, Isabel R.
AU - Mohsin, Falak Zehra
AU - Espinosa, Agustín
AU - Cueto, Rosa María
AU - Cavalli, Stefano
AU - da Costa, Silvia
AU - Amutio, Alberto
AU - Alonso-Arbiol, Itziar
AU - Páez, Darío
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors. Political Psychology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Society of Political Psychology.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Although different social crises may eventually favor undemocratic and authoritarian forms of governance, at some point, such antidemocratic practices require the support of a significant part of the population to be implemented. The present research investigates how and whether the COVID-19 pandemic might have favoured greater support for antidemocratic governmental practices, on the premise of regaining control and security. Using data from 17 countries (N = 4364) and national-level indicators (i.e., real number of contagions and deaths, and sociopolitical indicators), we test how the risk of contagion and death from COVID-19, along with personal orientations (i.e., social dominance orientation [SDO], right-wing authoritarianism [RWA], and perceived anomie) motivate authoritarian and antidemocratic practices. Results from multilevel models indicate that risk perception and perceptions of political instability predict a wish for stronger leadership, agreement with martial law, and support for a controlling government especially when SDO and RWA are high, while more egalitarian and less conservative people agree less with these authoritarian measures in spite of the levels of risk perception. We discuss the implications for these findings for future research on similar but also dissimilar external events (natural disasters, war, or terror incidents) and the consequences for societies with higher authoritarian tendencies.
AB - Although different social crises may eventually favor undemocratic and authoritarian forms of governance, at some point, such antidemocratic practices require the support of a significant part of the population to be implemented. The present research investigates how and whether the COVID-19 pandemic might have favoured greater support for antidemocratic governmental practices, on the premise of regaining control and security. Using data from 17 countries (N = 4364) and national-level indicators (i.e., real number of contagions and deaths, and sociopolitical indicators), we test how the risk of contagion and death from COVID-19, along with personal orientations (i.e., social dominance orientation [SDO], right-wing authoritarianism [RWA], and perceived anomie) motivate authoritarian and antidemocratic practices. Results from multilevel models indicate that risk perception and perceptions of political instability predict a wish for stronger leadership, agreement with martial law, and support for a controlling government especially when SDO and RWA are high, while more egalitarian and less conservative people agree less with these authoritarian measures in spite of the levels of risk perception. We discuss the implications for these findings for future research on similar but also dissimilar external events (natural disasters, war, or terror incidents) and the consequences for societies with higher authoritarian tendencies.
KW - antidemocratic practices
KW - authoritarianism
KW - COVID-19
KW - risk perception
KW - RWA
KW - SDO
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85174304802&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/pops.12930
DO - 10.1111/pops.12930
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85174304802
SN - 0162-895X
VL - 45
SP - 407
EP - 433
JO - Political Psychology
JF - Political Psychology
IS - 2
ER -