Doctoral Dissertation Research: Explaining Voters Attachments to Charismatic Legacies

University Of Texas At Austin, Austin TX

Investigators

Abstract

General Summary Conventional wisdom suggests that charismatic leaders' allure fades quickly after their deaths. Why, then, do many individuals become and remain attached to the legacies of some charismatic leaders? The PI conducts a survey experiment that directly tests the strategies and conditions under which new leaders can reactivate citizens' attachment to political parties that were established as vehicles for charismatic leaders in order to garner political support. The results of this study will inform debates about the nature and consequences of charismatic leadership across disciplines including political science, sociology, psychology, and business management. Furthermore, the project will clarify how different types of attachment to charismatic legacies might strengthen or undermine democratic representation and electoral competition. Finally, the results can serve to inform political communication and campaign strategy in countries with strong charismatic legacies. Technical Summary This project investigates the nature and evolution of citizens' attachments to weakly institutionalized political movements founded by charismatic leaders. The PI argues that new leaders can tap into the charismatic founders' legacies to sustain or reactivate support through one of three mechanisms: 1) a programmatic mechanism that link citizens' ties to the movement through programs and policies; 2)a grassroots mechanism that posits that citizens' attachments are preserved through participation in the movement' organizations; 3) a personalistic mechanism that indicates that citizens' attachments remain anchored in the founder's charisma. The PI test these three mechanisms through a survey experiment that examines the relative influence of each mechanism on citizens' attachment to the legacy parties. Individuals are randomly assigned to read a short news piece containing one of four experimental conditions, three of which will prime either the programmatic, grassroots, or personalistic aspects of the movement, and the fourth of which will contain no prime. Subsequently, participants will answer questions about their identification with the movement, support for its leaders, emotional attachment, and political attitudes and behaviors. The PI uses difference-of-means and difference-of-proportions tests to examine which mechanism provides the basis for followers' attachments to the movement. The Pi uses Argentina and Venezuela as the cases of interest.