Collective memories, propaganda and authoritarian political support

Alessandro Belmonte and Michael Rochlitz ()

Economic Systems, 2020, vol. 44, issue 3

Abstract: Can experience with democracy affect political support for a dictator? We develop a political economy model with endogenous reference points, where a dictator strategically reactivates traumatic collective memories about a past experience with democracy, to convince the population that a democratic alternative is inferior to the autocratic status quo. We find that a more traumatic experience with democracy in the past renders propaganda more efficient and increases the level of authoritarian political support per unit of memory recollection. We support these findings with panel data evidence from 103 countries.

Keywords: Collective memory; Propaganda; Political support; Authoritarian politics; Private investment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D74 D83 P16 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecosys:v:44:y:2020:i:3:s0939362520300789

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecosys.2020.100771

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