Research

This study examines how formative regime experiences shape both normative and performance-based (instrumental) democratic support during periods of backsliding. Using cross-sectional data from 1994 to 2024 across 28 autocratization episodes, we draw on theories of attitudinal development to argue that economic performance during the formative years—particularly between ages 15-20—can influence later democratic attitudes. Comparing individuals who came of age during autocratization to those socialized under democratic conditions within the same countries, the results show a strong cohort effect: economic growth during the formative years significantly predicts democratic support for those socialized under backsliding. Contrary to initial expectations, higher growth boosts democratic attachment, while support for authoritarian alternatives is largely unaffected. These findings suggest that performance-based evaluations can reinforce democratic attachments even when normative support is presumed to erode, highlighting the enduring influence of early regime experiences and civic learning under uncertain political conditions.

When radical right parties moralize policy issues, mainstream parties face a strategic dilemma: accommodate their framing and risk appearing unprincipled to opponents, or oppose it and cede control of the narrative. This paper examines how voters respond to mainstream party reactions to the radical right's moral framing of immigration through a novel vignette survey experiment in Spain. Respondents were then primed with mainstream elites responding through either accommodation or opposition using moral or pragmatic framing. The findings show that mainstream party responses to moral framing trigger partisan-motivated reasoning rather than principled evaluation. When parties accommodate Vox's moral framing, in-party supporters see this as defending principles, while out-party supporters interpret it as capitulation. Pragmatic framing reduces—but does not eliminate—this polarization. Importantly, moralization effects are strongest on identity-defining judgments (policy alignment, party competency) and weakest on abstract values (negotiation openness, morality perception), suggesting voters evaluate mainstream responses through a tribal lens focused on "what does this mean for my party's identity?" rather than principled debate. These findings reveal a fundamental mechanism of democratic polarization: radical right moralization succeeds not by persuading voters that the issue is moral, but by forcing mainstream parties into positions that voters evaluate through partisan identity rather than principle. The result is that accommodation and opposition alike strengthen in-party supporters while alienating opponents—destabilizing the cross-party consensus needed for democratic compromise on polarizing issues.

Keywords: moralization, framing effects, radical right, political polarization, partisan motivated reasoning, mainstream parties, immigration

How do parents transmit far-right support to their children, and why do these transmission mechanisms differ so dramatically between East and West Germany? Using linked parent-child data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, this study identifies two independent predictors of child AfD support. First, parental ideology is the strongest predictor: parents’ AfD support is strongly associated with their children’s support. Second, parental warmth acts as an independent protective factor in West Germany, particularly among fathers and sons, where it is associated with lower levels of child AfD support; however, no such relationship appears in East Germany. Two structural mechanisms appear to increase vulnerability in the East: lower school integration and greater economic stress are both much more strongly associated with AfD support than in the West. Lastly, gender divergence is particularly striking: women’s AfD support is driven by parental emphasis on traditional gender roles, while men’s support is robustly associated with high traditionalist upbringing combined with authoritarian parenting. This demonstrates that childhood upbringing shape far-right vulnerability through region-specific mechanisms: where structural protections remain intact, parenting quality is decisive; where they are compromised, structural disruption dominates.

Keywords: political socialization, intergenerational transmission, civic education, political

extremism, parenting