research that checks more closely what the cause is

Buckley, N., Marquardt, K. L., Reuter, O. J. i Tertytchnaya, K. (2024), „Endogenous Popularity: How Perceptions of Support Affect the Popularity of Authoritarian Regimes“, American Political Science Review 118(2): 1046–1052.

Contribution to this answer

Buckley and the co-authors show that popularity alone can influence popularity: when people get the impression that the leader is supported by a large number of other citizens, a part of them start to evaluate him more positively. This shows that support for the leader is not only an assessment of his work, but it does not say whether the same people want him to have unlimited power.

analysis of surveys

Geddes, B. i Zaller, J. (1989), „Sources of Popular Support for Authoritarian Regimes“, American Journal of Political Science 33(2): 319–347.

Contribution to this answer

Geddes and Zaller show that support for authoritarian government can be real, not just extorted by fear: the information that citizens are exposed to and their ability to accept these messages or critically evaluate them affects support for the regime. But this work does not ask where these same citizens want to set the boundaries of government.

comparing several countries or cases

Dukalskis, A. i Gerschewski, J. (2017), „What Autocracies Say (and What Citizens Hear): Proposing Four Mechanisms of Autocratic Legitimation“, Contemporary Politics 23(3): 251–268.

Dukalskis, A. i Gerschewski, J. (2017), "What Autocracies Say (and What Citizens Hear): Proposing Four Mechanisms of Autocratic Legitimation", Contemporary Politics 23(3): 251–268.

Contribution to this answer

Dukalskis and Gerschewski show how autocracy tries to convince people that they have the right to rule through results, ideas, political passivity or procedures. This is useful for understanding where support comes from, but the legitimacy of government and compliance with unlimited government are not the same thing.

joint analysis of results of many studies

Oser, J., Grinson, A., Boulianne, S. i Halperin, E. (2022), „How Political Efficacy Relates to Online and Offline Political Participation: A Multilevel Meta-analysis“, Political Communication 39(5): 607–633.

Oser, J., Grinson, A., Boulianne, S. i Halperin, E. (2022), "How Political Efficacy Relates to Online and Offline Political Participation: A Multilevel Meta-analysis", Political Communication 39(5): 607–633.

Contribution to this answer

Oser and co-authors show that people who are more likely to have political influence participate more often in politics. This is an important finding on political effectiveness, but it very poorly answers the question of whether sympathy for the leader implies acceptance of its unlimited power.

data from a large number of countries

Neundorf, A., Nazrullaeva, E., Northmore-Ball, K., Tertytchnaya, K. i Kim, W. (2024), „Varieties of Indoctrination: The Politicization of Education and the Media around the World“, Perspectives on Politics 22(3): 771–798.

Contribution to this answer

Neundorf and co-authors show how education and the media can be politicized to shape political attitudes. This helps to understand how political beliefs arise, but does not directly separate support for a concrete leader from support for limiting or expanding his powers.