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Democracy amid pandemic: a survey experiment on how Covid‐19 affectedness influences support for anti‐liberal policies

Democracy amid pandemic: a survey experiment on how Covid‐19 affectedness influences support for anti‐liberal policies
Democracy amid pandemic: a survey experiment on how Covid‐19 affectedness influences support for anti‐liberal policies
Do people support ostensibly effective policy measures that curtail liberal rights and civil liberties or instead stick to liberal principles when confronted with an unprecedented crisis? This article examines the relationship between individuals’ perceptions of the Covid-19 pandemic and their attitudes toward democracy as they consider effective countermeasures. It asks (a) whether individuals’ sense of being affected by the pandemic shapes their attitudes toward democratic policymaking and (b) whether this relationship is moderated by trust and authoritarianism. The analysis builds on a customized survey in Austria that includes a conjoint experiment to test the acceptability of various illiberal policies. It shows that while feeling affected by Covid-19 does not have the hypothesized effect, there are strong interactions with respondents’ political attitudes. Citizens’ willingness to sacrifice democracy for more effective policies depends both on whether they perceive the pandemic as a personal problem and on their attitudes toward government and democracy.
2183-2463
Werner, Annika
dcafc9c0-9649-427b-b550-04d03e3c0b24
Heinisch, Reinhard
d0c3357b-5aad-4c75-9f6a-14f006843267
Werner, Annika
dcafc9c0-9649-427b-b550-04d03e3c0b24
Heinisch, Reinhard
d0c3357b-5aad-4c75-9f6a-14f006843267

Werner, Annika and Heinisch, Reinhard (2024) Democracy amid pandemic: a survey experiment on how Covid‐19 affectedness influences support for anti‐liberal policies. Politics and Governance, 12, [8469]. (doi:10.17645/pag.8469).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Do people support ostensibly effective policy measures that curtail liberal rights and civil liberties or instead stick to liberal principles when confronted with an unprecedented crisis? This article examines the relationship between individuals’ perceptions of the Covid-19 pandemic and their attitudes toward democracy as they consider effective countermeasures. It asks (a) whether individuals’ sense of being affected by the pandemic shapes their attitudes toward democratic policymaking and (b) whether this relationship is moderated by trust and authoritarianism. The analysis builds on a customized survey in Austria that includes a conjoint experiment to test the acceptability of various illiberal policies. It shows that while feeling affected by Covid-19 does not have the hypothesized effect, there are strong interactions with respondents’ political attitudes. Citizens’ willingness to sacrifice democracy for more effective policies depends both on whether they perceive the pandemic as a personal problem and on their attitudes toward government and democracy.

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Accepted/In Press date: 9 August 2024
Published date: 17 October 2024

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 498790
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/498790
ISSN: 2183-2463
PURE UUID: a1bedf9f-b6f4-4c03-92b8-0db5394a2927
ORCID for Annika Werner: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-7341-0551

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Date deposited: 28 Feb 2025 17:34
Last modified: 22 Aug 2025 02:47

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Contributors

Author: Annika Werner ORCID iD
Author: Reinhard Heinisch

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