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Authoritarian Nostalgia, Group Sentiment, and Voter Behavior: Evidence from East Asia

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Sanghoon Kim-Leffingwell
Sanghoon Kim-Leffingwell
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Legacies of an authoritarian past have enduring effects on voters’ attitudes and behaviors. I argue that authoritarian nostalgia is an important source of group sentiment and voter behavior in post-authoritarian democracies. Voters with nostalgic sentiment construct strong group sentiment based on historical perception and express attachment towards authoritarian successors. I test this argument with a new measure of authoritarian nostalgia. With original data collected from South Korea and Taiwan, I provide evidence that nostalgic voters are likely to exhibit strong group sentiment observable through partisan attachment. Abstracting from the specific cases, I use a randomly assigned candidate comparison analysis to demonstrate that voters high in authoritarian nostalgia are more attracted to hypothetical candidates invoking nostalgia than those with high programmatic or ideological proximity. Overall, the results show how authoritarian nostalgia remains important as a source of group sentiment in maturing democracies.
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Political Behavior
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-024-09987-x
Abstract
Legacies of an authoritarian past have enduring eects on voters’ attitudes and
behaviors. I argue that authoritarian nostalgia is an important source of group sen-
timent and voter behavior in post-authoritarian democracies. Voters with nostalgic
sentiment construct strong group sentiment based on historical perception and ex-
press attachment towards authoritarian successors. I test this argument with a new
measure of authoritarian nostalgia. With original data collected from South Korea
and Taiwan, I provide evidence that nostalgic voters are likely to exhibit strong
group sentiment observable through partisan attachment. Abstracting from the spe-
cic cases, I use a randomly assigned candidate comparison analysis to demon-
strate that voters high in authoritarian nostalgia are more attracted to hypothetical
candidates invoking nostalgia than those with high programmatic or ideological
proximity. Overall, the results show how authoritarian nostalgia remains important
as a source of group sentiment in maturing democracies.
More than a quarter century since the Third Wave of Democratization, democratic
norms and institutions have become consolidated across new democracies. However,
political rhetoric echoing the autocratic past has continued in many of these democra-
cies across both political elites and ordinary citizens. Politicians often invoke nostal-
gia for former authoritarian leaders, and many citizens share assessments of former
dictatorships that often emphasize its achievements over its autocratic repression.
The coexistence of stable democratic institutions and lingering authoritarian senti-
ment raises questions about political attitudes and democratic support. Does authori-
Accepted: 8 October 2024
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature
2024
Authoritarian Nostalgia, Group Sentiment, and Voter
Behavior: Evidence from East Asia
SanghoonKim-Lengwell1
Sanghoon Kim-Lengwell
sanghoon.kim@unt.edu
1 Department of Political Science, University of North Texas, 1155 Union Circle #305340,
Denton, TX 76203, USA
1 3
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
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