Populist Attitudes and Threat Perceptions of Global Transformations and Governance

Experimental Evidence from India and the United Kingdom

Bibliographic Data

ID6337288
AuthorsJ Dennison (0000-0003-3090-7124, Stockholm University, corresponding author), Stuart J Turnbull-Dugarte (0000-0002-9330-3945, University of Southampton, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume43
Issue5
Pages873-892
Publication date2022-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePolitical Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0162-895X • E-ISSN: 1467-9221
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/pops.12817
OpenAlexW4220726802
LanguageEN
Citations received16
References cited49

Contemporary global crises and transformations—including climate change, migration, digitalization, pandemics, financial and economic integration, and terrorism—increasingly determine democratic politics and policymaking. We examine how populist attitudes are associated with perceptions of the threats posed by these six global crises and transformations. Using original survey data in India and the United Kingdom alongside secondary data in the United Kingdom, we robustly show that stronger populist attitudes are positively associated with the perception of threat posed by all six crises and transformations—particularly to the economy and national way of life, but also, of theoretical note, to humanitarian concerns. Furthermore, experimentally priming populist individuals on global governance solutions to each transformation has no effect on their perception of threat, suggesting that such threat perceptions are not driven by political concerns but by the societal crises and transformations themselves. Overall, our findings theoretically support the ideational conceptualization of populism as a thin ideology, distinct from nationalism or left‐right attitudes, which acts as a broad, if thin, political psychological predisposition. Substantially, we cautiously argue that our findings may give cause for optimism about the potential to rally popular support for global governance solutions to global challenges

Conceptualization · Corporate governance · Democracy · Development economics · Economics · Ideology · Perception · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Populism · Sociology · Terrorism · Law · Media Influence and Politics · Misinformation and Its Impacts · Populism, Right-Wing Movements · Psychology · Social Psychology

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