Authoritarian Measures Research Articles

Crimen, inseguridad y erosión de los valores democráticos en América Latina

In the Latin American context of extremely high crime, political scientists and policy makers alike need to ask whether crime, and the associated fear of crime, is helping to build popular support for repressive measures, and by extension, for repressive regimes. In short, is it possible that growing crime is a threat to the durability of democracy in Latin America? To test this proposition, this paper uses the 2008 Americas Barometer surveys. The premise of the paper is that rising crime and insecurity undermine democratic values and increase support for authoritarian measures. As crime rates increase and governments fail to stem the tide, citizen’s belief that democracy is the best system may decline. Some citizens may support the imple- mentation of greater controls or extra-judicial measures. High levels of crime may reduce levels of tolerance and interpersonal trust, thus undermining social capital. Finally, crime victimization and the fear of crime could drive citizens to lose faith in their political institutions, particularly the police and judicial authorities.

Integrating immigrant minorities: Developing a scale to measure majority members’ attitudes toward their own proactive efforts

The present study is based on the premise that the integration of ethnic minorities may involve more than the majority's expression of tolerance. In order to promote inclusion, the majority may have to play a more active role in the integration process. We describe the development and validation of a new psychometric scale which assesses majority members' attitudes toward their own proactive contribution to the integration of immigrants within three domains: cultural and structural efforts, and openness to diversity. The scale is investigated by analyses of internal structure and exploration of construct validity in relation to relevant social psychological and personality constructs in a sample of 486 Norwegian university students (28% male, mean age = 26.5, SD = 6.08). Factor analyses supported a unidimensional structure and the estimated reliability of an additive scale was satisfactory (Cronbach's α = 0.91). The scale correlated negatively with measures of right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation, and positively with global identity. It was weakly related to the personality traits agreeableness, intellect, extraversion, and conscientiousness. The potential utility of the scale in both applied and experimental social psychological studies are discussed.

From the myth of Prometheus to strategic resilience: two cognitive paradigms linking risk and innovation

We argue that cognition linking risk to innovation is influenced by two distinct cognitive paradigms which have deep roots in personality and culture and are closely bound up with political identity. We differentiate between a paradigm of Promethean conservatism where innovation is perceived as threatening, and a paradigm of ‘Strategic Resilience’, where the status quo is perceived as threatening and innovation is perceived to reduce this threat. We find an evidence base for these paradigms in the personality psychology literature, which shows a strong tendency for psychometric measures of risk and innovation to correlate positively with each other and negatively with measures of conservatism and authoritarianism. We develop four theoretical elaborations from this greatly underutilised evidence base: (1) we seem to possess powerful ‘implicit personality theories’ (IPTs) which conflate the risk taker with the innovator; (2) these IPTs lead us to evaluate risk‐taking innovation either positively or negatively; (3) these evaluations also manifest the positions we adopt, as we undertake identity work, along the rich and complex personological and cultural continuum that contrasts risk‐averse conservatism with liberal radicalism; and (4) this highly political self‐positioning carries multiple implications for how we identify and evaluate risk within the context of organisational innovation.

The Effects of Mortality Salience and Social Dominance Orientation on Attitudes Toward Illegal Immigrants

The paper examines the hypothesis that the effects of mortality salience on attitudes toward illegal immigrants are moderated by individual differences predisposing participants toward prejudice or intolerance. A total of 122 university students completed measures of political orientation, authoritarianism, and social dominance orientation prior to being randomly assigned to a mortality salience or control condition. Political conservatism, authoritarianism, and social dominance orientation were all associated with more negative attitudes toward illegal immigrants. Although there was no main effect for mortality salience, there was an interaction between mortality salience and social dominance orientation. Higher social dominance orientation was associated with more negative attitudes toward illegal immigrants, albeit only in the mortality salience condition.

PUNITIVE CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND POLICY IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY

This paper examines the influence of so-called popular punitivism on contemporary society. Concerted efforts by policy makers have, in recent times, promoted the use of punitive criminal justice methods and rhetoric to maintain a castigatory sentiment amongst the public. This has lead to the acceptance that crime and anti social behaviour are more effectively controlled by harsh and authoritarian measures. Central to this rise in punitive sentiment and attacks on social deviants known as the 'other' is the use of media and other agencies to legitimize and encourage a sensationalized fear of crime which owes more to imagery and emotive elements than criminological research. The question of whether this political and media manipulation of criminal policy has resulted in a more punitive society is not without difficulty however. Despite this punitive political and media driven focus a number of important factors need to be addressed in order to better understand punitivism in contemporary society.

PERSONALITY AND IDEOLOGY AS DETERMINANTS OF CANDIDATE PREFERENCES AND “OBAMA CONVERSION” IN THE 2008 U.S. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

AbstractWe conducted a longitudinal study involving 734 college students over a three-month period that included the 2008 U.S. presidential election. The study investigated factors such as respondents' personality characteristics and ideological proclivities in predicting perceptions of the major candidates and both stability and change in voting preferences for Barack Obama and John McCain. Previous research on personality and political orientation suggests that Openness to New Experiences is positively associated with liberal political preferences, whereas Conscientiousness is positively associated with conservative preferences; we replicated these results in the context of the current study. Several ideological factors also predicted conversion to Obama's candidacy. These included respondents' degree of self-reported liberalism, perceptions of their parents as liberal (versus conservative), and lower scores on measures of authoritarianism and political system justification (i.e., support for the prevailing system of electoral politics and government). The effects of Openness and Conscientiousness on candidate preferences were statistically mediated by ideological variables, providing further evidence that general predispositions exist that link personality and political orientation, and these are likely to play a significant role in electoral politics. Implications for the integration of “top-down” (institutional) and “bottom-up” (psychological) approaches to the study of political behavior are discussed.

Parental Psychological Control and Authoritarianism in Chinese-Canadian and European-Canadian Cultural Groups: Their Meanings and Implications for University Students’ Adjustment

While psychological control and parental authoritarianism are thought to be distinct but related constructs (Barber & Harmon, 2002), the empirical relationships between measures of the constructs has not been assessed. This study examined these relationships, as reported by Chinese-Canadian and European-Canadian undergraduates. It also determined the extent to which participants’ reports of their mothers’ and fathers’ authoritarianism and psychological control uniquely predicted undergraduates’ own levels of depression, anxiety, and self-esteem. The associations between reports of parenting and these indicators of adjustment were similar in both groups. Across groups, there was evidence that the measures of psychological control and authoritarianism reflected distinct constructs, which were strongly positively associated. Psychological control best predicted depression and self-esteem; neither authoritarianism nor psychological control predicted unique variance in anxiety. The implications of the findings are discussed.

The Influence of Religious Fundamentalism, Right-Wing Authoritarianism, and Christian Orthodoxy on Explicit and Implicit Measures of Attitudes Toward Homosexuals

The goal of this study was to examine relations among dimensions of religiosity and explicit and implicit attitudes about homosexuals. Implicit attitudes were measured using the Implicit Association Test, an instrument that assesses attitudes about objects, persons, or groups, indirectly via participants' response times to words that are paired with symbols (e.g., “gay” and “straight” couples). Participants also completed explicit measures of religious fundamentalism, Christian orthodoxy, right-wing authoritarianism, and attitudes toward homosexuals. With respect to explicit attitudes, the results were consistent with previous research. Religious fundamentalism and right-wing authoritarianism predicted negative attitudes toward homosexuals, whereas Christian orthodoxy predicted more positive attitudes. In contrast, right-wing authoritarianism was the only significant predictor of implicit attitudes. People who scored high on a measure of right-wing authoritarianism had more negative explicit and implicit attitudes toward homosexuals than did people who scored low. Right-wing authoritarianism appears to play an important role in predicting both explicit and implicit attitudes toward homosexuals.

The political discourse of Fujimori’s coup d’état

Peru has a long history of democracy’s breakdowns where the construction of political discourse has been very important to legitimize authoritarian measures. Therefore, this article analyzes Alberto Fujimori’s discourse in the last Peruvian coup d’état in 1992. Owing to the fact that authoritarian discourse could become legitimate once again in a future political or economic crisis in Peru, this research concludes that the Peruvian government should consider the real importance of the issue of political order in contemporary politics.

Egyptian reforms post-2005 and the politics of succession: implications and consequences for the future Egyptian reform process

Egyptian economic reforms have been an on-going process since the Egyptian government adopted liberal market reforms in 1991 (Kienle 2001, 2004), influenced by a number of internal socio-economic factors, including growing levels of poverty, heightened inflation, high levels of corruption and rising levels of unemployment, in particular among new university graduates. These factors were exerting heavy pressure on a highly bureaucratic and inefficient state (Bayat 1997). However, the ensuing economic reforms resulted in tightened fiscal and monetary polices, and a subsequent increased and heightened socio-economic crisis in Egypt, which the Egyptian government attempted to control by imposing increasingly authoritarian measures, with political de-liberalization evident in both urban and rural areas (Kienle 2001). This led, at the turn of the millennium, to a period of failed economic reforms and increased levels of authoritarianism, which coincided with the political rise of the president's son, Gamal Mubarak, whose economic and business credentials have led to optimism concerning the possibility of future reform and change in Egypt. This paper examines the electoral promises made by Hosni Mubarak in the 2005 presidential elections and the ensuing economic and political implications for the political succession in Egypt, leading to conclusions about the future processes of economic and political reform in Egypt and the impact upon them of the political succession

Predicting Self-Construal from Authoritarianism: A Pilot Study of Perceived Threat

This pilot study investigated the association of perceived threat and scores on a measure of Authoritarianism. Undergraduate students (29 women, 8 men; ages 18-32, M=21, SD=3.1), completed the Right-wing Authoritarianism scale and then the Self-construal scale after reading a nonthreatening or threatening news article. In the threatening condition, Authoritarian scores accounted for a significant amount of variance (R2= .26) in Interdependent Self-construal scores, but not for Independent Self-construal scores. No significant associations were found in the non-threatening condition.

The Crisis of National Identity and ‘Sovereign-Democracy’ in Russia

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, one of the most serious problems for today's Russia is how to establish stability and identity as a nation.There are two reasons this problem is especially serious in Russia. First, because of historical, social psychological and other reasons, Russian society has trouble creating autonomous public order. The present writer calls this aspect of Russian society a ‘sand-society’, which means a society where stable order and a market economy are difficult to establish without some measure of authoritarianism. The high rate of support for President Putin reflects, not stability, but a public fear of instability. Second, Russia, in spite of the social characteristics mentioned above, is trying to keep up the appearance of an advanced G8 nation with a civil society based on the rule of law and democratic values. It was in order to cope with this dilemma and to justify his government that Vladislav Surkov set forth his ‘Sovereign-Democracy’ theory of Neo-Slavophilism.There is a strong distrust towards the Western world behind this theory, which insists on Russian individuality and is inimical to interventions or ‘exportation of democracy’ by the West, as in the cases of the collapse of governments in Georgia and Ukraine. This theory above all justifies the great power of the Russian State, emphasizes Russian individuality or peculiarity and affirms people's demands for order, stability, and especially a strong leader.This theory is based on the ideas of Ivan Il'in, who was a Russianist religious thinker condemned for being a reactionary and deported from Soviet Union in 1922. Il'in describes Russian culture as synthetic, intuitive, and organic, while characterizing Western culture as analytic, materialistic, and logical. Surkov's theory retains the basic tenets of Slavophilism, which set Plato above Aristotle and was closely related to German Romanticism and mysticism, while making no deeper interpretation of its roots.Surkov points out three features of Russian political culture—‘centralization’, ‘idealization’, and‘personification’.‘Centralization’ means that strong centralized power guarantees stability.‘Idealization’ means that the Russians feel uncomfortable without an ideal or a mission such as ‘the Third Rome’ or ‘the Third International’. ‘Personification’ means that, in Russia, a person (leader) is considered more important than institutions.The problem of establishing identity in Russia is the problem of stabilizing a ‘sand-society’. Considering these three features in relation to this problem, there are two requirements for stabilizing the ‘sand-society’. One is a ‘mold’ or a ‘framework’ to give sand a form, and the other is ‘cement’ to fix it. Of the three features in Surkov's ‘sovereign-democracy’ theory, ‘centralization’, and ‘personification’ are the ‘mold’ or ‘framework’, while ‘idealization’, and ‘personification’ make up the ‘cement’. Against this Neo-Slavophilism or ‘sovereign-democracy’, so-called modern, Westernizers, democrats, reformists and social democrats-are criticizing Surkov. Curiously, therefore, the controversy between Slavophiles and Westernizers that occurred 150 years ago is now repeating itself. One Russian political scientist describes this phenomenon as a deja vu and says it means that the problems dating back to the middle of the 19th century have not yet been solved.

The Validity and Reliability of Measures of Right-Wing Authoritarianism in South Africa

In this article we examine the findings of three studies of right-wing authoritarianism conducted in South Africa. The main aim of the article is to report on the validity and reliability of measures of right-wing authoritarianism across three samples, namely a group of police officers, a group of students at a historically English university and a group of students at a historically Afrikaans university. Two measures of authoritarianism were used: the 30-item version of Altemeyer's (1981, 1988) Right-wing Authoritarianism (RWA) scale and the 14-item version of Altemeyer's RWA scale developed by Duckitt (1993a) for use in South African samples. Participants were also given measures of conservatism, prejudice and political beliefs. These scales were then subjected to analyses of internal consistency, factor analysis and correlational analysis. The findings depart somewhat from previous studies in this area in that they do not show the levels of validity and reliability reported in other contexts, nor do these measures perform as theoretically indicated by Altemeyer (1981, 1988) and Duckitt (1989, 1991a). Across all three samples, low correlations were found with measures of prejudice, conservatism and political party preferences. In addition, the three-component model (authoritarian aggression, authoritarian submission and conventionalism) proposed by these authors did not emerge in factor analysis. These findings cause the authors to question the use of RWA scales in South Africa, with a number of implications for authoritarian research in this context.

Authoritarianism?With or Without Threat?

The Authoritarian Dynamic. By Karen Stenner. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. 392 pp., $75.00 cloth (ISBN: 0-521-82743-4), $29.99 paper (ISBN: 0-521-53478-X). Instead of inaugurating the prophesied “end of history” and the triumph of capitalist liberal democracy (Fukuyama 1992), the opening years of the twenty-first century have brought back some of the worst features of its predecessor. Internationally, genocide has ignited on several blurred frontiers where different religions mingle. US armed forces are bogged down in an endless and divisive Asian land war, and the head of an embattled Asian country has announced the failure of democracy and “increasing global hatred.” In the US domestic arena, a president has eavesdropped on US citizens without getting the required court approval, and a cultural divide has opened up over the issue of immigration. Given all this, it is fitting that social scientists are continuing to develop one of the most venerable psychological variables of the twentieth century—authoritarianism—to explain the situations in which we find ourselves. Theodor Adorno et al. (1950) originally developed the concept of authoritarianism, fusing psychoanalytic and Frankfurt School critical theory with US survey research technology, in order to explain anti-Semitism and the Holocaust. Their resulting F -scale measure of authoritarianism has proven to be extraordinarily useful in understanding prejudice, oppression, and aggression based on many different demographic dimensions. In recent years, Bob Altemeyer (1981, 1988, 1996) simplified the theory and refurbished the psychometric credentials of the F -scale, renaming it “right-wing authoritarianism.” In The Authoritarian Dynamic , Karen Stenner has elaborated on her earlier work with Stanley Feldman (Feldman and Stenner 1997) to create a comprehensive new theory and measure of authoritarianism that is intended to explain shifting levels and relationships of public opinion in the United States as well as other advanced industrial countries. Stenner believes that a “hopeless tautology” (pp. 54, 72) exists between the F -scale and the right-wing-authoritarian measures and the variables they are supposed …

The Modern Prince in the Age of the Third Wave: Economic Reform and Political Democratization in Morocco and Jordan

This article deals with the question of dual transition by examining two Arab monarchical regimes of Morocco and Jordan. The two countries represent different paths of Middle Eastern monarchies weathering through the agony of dual transition. Each country has its own combination of economic and political liberalization. While Morocco is showing the sign of a trade-off between successful economic reform and lagging democratization, Jordan is approaching the type of economics and politics go together. This path divergence constitutes the dependent variable in this essay, whereas economic structure and political cleavages serve as two independent variables. I conclude that rentierism can be a contributing factor to democratization as well as an obstacle to economic reform. Once the decline of exogenous rents begins, the state with any intention of pushing for economic reform is obliged to choose one from two options: either forming a democratic consensus or resorting to authoritarian measures. The fiscal crisis of a “rentier state ” increases the political costs of authoritarian leadership and thereby leads incumbent rulers to opt for the distribution of economic burdens by way of democratic opening. Jordan fits the case. In contrast, a “productionist state ” does not have to make political concessions to facilitate economic reform because its economy is more inward-looking. Morocco is closer to the latter.

Relationship of Personal Authoritarianism with Parenting Styles

This research investigated the relationship between the personality construct of right-wing authoritarianism and Baumrind's 1971 proposed parenting styles of authoritarian, authoritative, and permissive parenting. 68 youth ages 12-18 along with one of their parents participated. The children rated both parents on Buri's 1991 Parental Authority Questionnaire. One of the parents responded to Altemeyer's Right-Wing Authoritarian Scale. People with higher scores on Altemeyer's scale were more likely to prefer the authoritarian parenting style as their offspring reported (r = .33). Permissive parenting correlated negatively with the measure of authoritarianism as a personality variable (r = -.56).

Regime Type, Rights, and Foreign Direct Investment in Latin America: A Brief Comment

Biglaiser and DeRouen (2006)1 have provided a thorough examination of the effects of different types of economic reforms on flows of foreign direct investment (FDI). Their main finding-that economic reforms were generally unsuccessful in generating inflows of FDI during the time series-will undoubtedly generate further discussion about neoliberalism in Latin America. Although the authors' focus is on economic reform, they also devote considerable attention to the significance of good governance variables, including the effects of political regime type. Biglaiser and DeRouen's (2006) paper adds to a growing number of studies that have produced conflicting findings regarding the effects of regime type and/or rights and liberties on FDI.2 Given the conflicting results in the literature, and the policy significance of the issue, a brief commentary on the question of regime type, rights, and FDI in Latin America (and in other developing areas) is warranted. One problem in the literature is that researchers frequently employ measures of regime type that may not adequately capture crosssectional differences in rights and civil liberties in Latin America. Similar to previous studies, Biglaiser and DeRouen (2006) use the Polity IV data set (Marshall and Jaggers 2002) as a measure of authoritarianism and democracy in recipient countries. The Polity data focus primarily on constraints faced by the executive, the degree of competition and openness in executive recruitment, and political competition in a

“Everybody knows it’s true”: Social dominance orientation and right-wing authoritarianism moderate false consensus for stereotypic beliefs

European American university students ( N = 89) judged the percentage of African Americans who possess 16 traits (e.g., poor, violent, and emotionally expressive) and then estimated how other students would make the same judgments. Participants also completed measures of social dominance orientation (SDO) and right-wing authoritarianism (RWA). Individuals with both high SDO and high RWA held the least positive views of African Americans. False consensus emerged in the form of a significant positive average within-person partial correlation between participants’ own ratings and their judgments of how other students would respond, controlling for the actual responses of other students. False consensus was positively related to SDO and a significant SDO × RWA interaction indicated that false consensus was highest for participants with both high SDO and high RWA. Results suggest that hierarchy-legitimizing beliefs in the form of stereotypes may be sustained internally through false consensus, especially among those most prone to prejudice.

The Dimensionality of Right‐Wing Authoritarianism: Lessons from the Dilemma between Theory and Measurement

The RWA Scale (Altemeyer, 1981, 1988, 1996) is commonly regarded as the best measure of right‐wing authoritarianism. The one‐dimensional instrument assesses the covariation of three attitudinal clusters: authoritarian submission, authoritarian aggression, and conventionalism. The incongruence between the implicit conceptual dimensionality on the one hand and methodological operationalization on the other makes room for discussion about whether it would be advantageous to measure the 3 facets of RWA separately. I rely on three arguments: (1) confirmatory factor analyses showing that three‐dimensional scales fit the data better than the conventional one‐dimensional practice; (2) the dimensions showing a considerable interdimension discrepancy in their capability to explain validation criteria; and (3) the dimensions showing an intradimensional discrepancy which is dependent upon the research question. The argumentation is illustrated by empirical evidence from several Web‐based studies among German Internet users.

Attitudes towards fishery and conservation of the Saimaa ringed seal in Lake Pihlajavesi, Finland

The Saimaa ringed seal (Phoca hispida saimensis) is the only endemic mammal in Finland. At present the total population size of this subspecies is c. 250 individuals. Because the seal feeds on fish, and because of its value particularly as a source of meat, oil and leather, hunting was allowed until 1955. Conservation of the seal and some of its lairing areas by means of fishing restrictions requires the adoption of new attitudes. Semi-structured interviews elucidated the basis of conflicts concerning protection of the Saimaa ringed seal and fishing in Lake Pihlajavesi, Finland, where one of the most viable populations of the seal lives. Socio-economic position largely determined personal attitudes towards conservation; local landowners felt that their use of natural resources was restricted, while summer cottage owners wanted strict conservation. Commercial fishers considered the protection of the ringed seal unnecessary and a waste of money. Conservation biologists believed that the proposed actions were necessary to reduce the risk of extinction. Attitudes were also widely influenced by culture and social backgrounds. Those influenced by the traditional Finnish peasant/nature relationship had a different vision of nature from the conservationists who were influenced by modern science. Questions raised by the protection of the Saimaa ringed seal form an example of transition of an environmental conflict to larger-scale criticism of ongoing structural transformation in society. It is obvious that if nature conservation requires the approval of all social groups, it needs a change of authoritarian measures and acceptance of local knowledge, which should be used alongside scientific knowledge in management. Nature conservation policy led by specialists and authorities could be seen as widening the gap between urban and rural areas.