Post-authoritarian norms and the ideological legacy of dictatorships

Organised by

• Department of Political and Social Sciences

Why have once successful left-wing parties in Poland nearly died out by 2015? Why has Portugal been one of the last countries in Western Europe to see a radical right party in the national parliament? Why are right-wing individuals more likely to protest in Eastern Europe than left-wing individuals? POSTNORM proposes a theory postulating that these seemingly unrelated patterns are the product of a single process: the rejection of the ideological brand of the past authoritarian regime. Through novel survey experiments, POSTNORM will examine how in new democracies, the ideological associations with the old regime serve as a focal point for norms that govern what are appropriate political positions for voters and parties: in democracies following left(right-)wing dictatorship, voters and political elites avoid associating themselves with the left(right) respectively. POSTNORM further derives a set of testable expectations about how these moral boundaries in the ideological space shape both the demand- and the supply side of party competition. The bias resulting from this process colours citizens’ ideological preferences; perceptions about parties’ stances in these issues; national identity; political discussions; the supply of new parties; post-transition party names and programmatic stances; and party elite discourse. Social norms formed along this process are not simply a relic of the past that has stuck around. They are a crucial tool for political coordination today.