You can take a cognitive bias so far down the road that you can live in an objectively very clear dictatorship and sit there and say, 'I live in a democracy.'

Natalie Wenzell Letsa

In this episode of The Democracy Paradox, host Justin Kempf speaks with political scientist Natalie Wenzell Letsa about why some voters genuinely support ruling parties in electoral autocracies. Drawing on her book The Autocratic Voter and fieldwork in Cameroon, Letsa explains how partisan identities form under dictatorship and what these dynamics reveal about democracy, polarization, and political behavior more broadly.

The Democracy Paradox is made in partnership with the Kellogg Institute of the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame.

Read the full transcript here.

Key Highlights

Introduction - 0:20
What is an Electoral Autocracy - 3:20
Voters in an Autocracy - 12:55
Opposition in an Autocracy - 21:04
Parallels to Democracies - 30:31

Links

Learn more about Natalie Wenzell Letsa.

Learn more about her book The Autocratic Voter: Partisanship and Political Socialization Under Dictatorship.

Learn more about the Kellogg Institute.

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Natalie Wenzell Letsa Describes the Autocratic Voter