Authoritarianism and conspiracism around the world

Valerie Capraro, Folca Panizza, Joseph Vitriol, Mikey Biddlestone, Andrè Krouwe, Yordan Kutiyski, Alberto López Ortega, Ana Ebert, Max Wan, Jasmin Hagemann, Sophie Hetche, André Kaiser, Praveen Kujal, Karen Douglas, Christopher Federico, Jolanda Jetten, Sander Van Der Linden and Flávio Azevedo ()
Additional contact information
Valerie Capraro: University of Milan-Bicocca
Folca Panizza: IMT School for Advanced Studies
Joseph Vitriol: Lehigh University
Mikey Biddlestone: University of Kent
Andrè Krouwe: Vrije University
Yordan Kutiyski: Kieskompas
Ana Ebert: The Psychology of Political Behavior Studies
Max Wan: The Psychology of Political Behavior Studies
Jasmin Hagemann: The Psychology of Political Behavior Studies
Sophie Hetche: The Psychology of Political Behavior Studies
André Kaiser: TUniversity of Cologne
Praveen Kujal: Middlesex University and Chapman University
Karen Douglas: University of Kent
Christopher Federico: University of Minnesota
Jolanda Jetten: University of Queensland
Sander Van Der Linden: University of Cambridge
Flávio Azevedo: Utrecht University

Working Papers from Chapman University, Economic Science Institute

Abstract: Authoritarian leaders frequently deploy conspiracy narratives to justify power concentration and delegitimize opponents, yet the link between authoritarianism and conspiracism remains underresearched. Integrating data across six studies from multiple international surveys (N=63,403; 20 countries), expert-coded party systems (71 countries; 14 datasets), and longitudinal panel studies, we demonstrate that individuals with stronger authoritarian orientations are consistently more prone to conspiracism across diverse cultures, political contexts, and time. These results remain robust when controlling for populist attitudes and multiple political, psychological, and demographic variables. The link between authoritarianism and conspiracism appears to constitute a durable and generalizable psychological relationship. This may help explain why conspiratorial narratives and authoritarian politics so often co-occur, with important implications for democratic resilience in an era of rising institutional distrust, anti-scientific attitudes, misinformation, and post-truth politics.

Keywords: authoritarianism; conspiracism; political psychology; populist attitudes; relative deprivation; motivated social cognition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D9 D91 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-pol
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:chu:wpaper:26-03

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