Presentation Open Access
Brettfeld, Katrin; Richter, Thomas; Wetzels, Peter
{"conceptdoi":"10.25592/uhhfdm.17372","conceptrecid":"17372","created":"2025-04-06T20:17:21.413867+00:00","doi":"10.25592/uhhfdm.17373","id":17373,"links":{"badge":"https://www.fdr.uni-hamburg.de/badge/doi/10.25592/uhhfdm.17373.svg","conceptbadge":"https://www.fdr.uni-hamburg.de/badge/doi/10.25592/uhhfdm.17372.svg","conceptdoi":"http://doi.org/10.25592/uhhfdm.17372","doi":"http://doi.org/10.25592/uhhfdm.17373"},"metadata":{"access_right":"open","access_right_category":"success","communities":[{"id":"uhh"}],"creators":[{"affiliation":"Universit\u00e4t Hamburg","name":"Brettfeld, Katrin"},{"affiliation":"GIGA Hamburg","name":"Richter, Thomas"},{"affiliation":"Universit\u00e4t Hamburg","name":"Wetzels, Peter"}],"description":"<p>This paper investigates how global conflicts and crises influence public attitudes toward democracy in Germany, particularly fears related to war, climate change, and migration.</p>\n\n<p>As part of the study "People in Germany: International", online surveys are conducted every two to three months. Our data tracks how perceptions of societal challenges and associated concerns shape attitudes toward democracy over time.</p>\n\n<p>A new measurement is used to gauge acceptance of autocracy, defined by the rejection of democratic norms like open debate and parliamentary oversight, and support for more authoritarian leadership.</p>\n\n<p>Results indicate that about 30% of the German population exhibits some level of autocracy acceptance, with variations across political affiliations—from 14.8% among Green Party voters to 50.1% among AfD (a far right party) supporters.</p>\n\n<p>Acceptance of autocracy is not confined to right-wing or lower-educated groups but spans various social demographics.</p>\n\n<p>Concerns over access to necessities—housing, energy, work, and food—aggravated by fears of war, climate change, or migration, increase the likelihood of supporting autocracy.</p>\n\n<p>Those who view political leaders as incompetent are even more inclined toward authoritarian preferences.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, we present results from vignette experiments which are used to assess whether experimentally manipulated perceptions of military conflicts, such as the Russian war in Ukraine or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, have a causal effect on autocracy acceptance among respondents.</p>","doi":"10.25592/uhhfdm.17373","keywords":["Autocracy","Crisis","Survey","Attitudes towards democracy","Survey","MOTRA","MiDInt"],"language":"eng","license":{"id":"CC-BY-4.0"},"publication_date":"2025-04-06","related_identifiers":[{"identifier":"10.25592/uhhfdm.17372","relation":"isVersionOf","scheme":"doi"}],"relations":{"version":[{"count":1,"index":0,"is_last":true,"last_child":{"pid_type":"recid","pid_value":"17373"},"parent":{"pid_type":"recid","pid_value":"17372"}}]},"resource_type":{"title":"Presentation","type":"presentation"},"title":"The Influence of Global Crises on Acceptance of Autocracy in Germany. Paper presented at the 82nd Annual Conference of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago (IL), April 3rd, 2025."},"owners":[400],"revision":2,"updated":"2025-04-07T06:58:25.725667+00:00"}