Emancipated Patriots: Will Authoritarian Legitimacy Survive Modernization in China?

Year 2022, Volume: 1 Issue: 2, 32 - 57, 30.12.2022

Hasan Basri Biberoğlu

Abstract

Modernization was expected to lead to cognitive mobilization through improved living standards and access to education in China. Authoritarian legitimacy would weaken as deferential and traditional values were replaced by emancipative and liberal democratic values, which was expected to lead to the democratization of Chinese society. The endurance of authoritarian legitimacy and popular government support despite rapid modernization has contradicted expectations. This study examined the role of national identification in reconciling the outcomes of modernization with the authoritarian regime. The operationalization followed the dyadic approach where audiences were defined by their levels of national identification. Analyses involved mixed effect linear regression models where national identification levels had random effects while emancipative values, level of education, income and other control variables had fixed effects. It was found that indicators of legitimacy perceptions including performance satisfaction, democracy evaluation and trust in state institutions are positively associated with the intensity of national identification independently from controls.

Keywords

Nationalism, Modernization, China, CCP, Political Legitimacy

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