Sympathy for the strong leader in Europe

The rule of a strong leader above the law was found acceptable to a certain extent among 52 per cent of ESS Round 10 respondents from 30 European countries. Literature suggests that support for a strong leader is driven by individual and political factors, and individual and societal threats. The effect of individual factors and individual threats on willingness to submit to a strong leader supports the plausibility of the radicalising thesis. Adherence to strong leaders is affected by authoritarian upbringing, enhanced by lower education, ageing, economic and physical unsafety, and marginalisation. Political factors, however, are equally important. Our research confirmed that individuals extremely dissatisfied with democracy lean towards strong leaders. Nevertheless, satisfaction with democracy does not preclude a tendency to authoritarian submission. Party de-alignment, electoral apathy, and the authoritarian legacy create a political environment favourable to tendencies to authoritarian submission.