What reduces support for civil liberties: Authoritarianism, national identity, and perceived threat

Although civil liberties are considered to be one of the pillars of democracy, their support among people is far from unconditional. The aim of this article is to examine the predictors of people's willingness to trade off their civil liberties for a more restrictive form of government. We hypo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Analyses of social issues and public policy 2021-12, Vol.21 (1), p.734-760
Main Authors: Mužík, Michal, Šerek, Jan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Authoritarianism
Civil liberties
Civil rights
Democracy
Freedoms
Internet
National identity
Respondents
Structural equation modeling
Threats
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Summary:Although civil liberties are considered to be one of the pillars of democracy, their support among people is far from unconditional. The aim of this article is to examine the predictors of people's willingness to trade off their civil liberties for a more restrictive form of government. We hypothesize that civil liberties trade‐off is positively predicted by individuals’ authoritarianism and national identity and that the effects of both variables are mediated by perceived threat. Our sample came from the Czech Republic and consisted of 309 respondents who participated in an online survey. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Our results supported all of our hypotheses. Perceived threat had the strongest effect on civil liberties trade‐off. At the same time, perceived threat partially mediated the effect of authoritarianism and completely mediated the effect of national identity on civil liberties trade‐off.
ISSN:1529-7489
1530-2415
DOI:10.1111/asap.12241