Democracy Paradox Podcast
About the Episode:
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.
Show Notes:
In this episode of The Democracy Paradox, host Justin Kempf speaks with political scientist Natalie Wenzell Letsa, author of The Autocratic Voter: Partisanship and Political Socialization Under Dictatorship (Cambridge University Press, 2025). Letsa challenges the common assumption that autocratic regimes survive only through coercion and fraud, showing instead that many voters in electoral autocracies genuinely support ruling parties. Drawing on extensive fieldwork in Cameroon, she explains how strong partisan identities form even in unfree political environments.
The conversation explores how electoral autocracies function, particularly the role of elections that are neither free nor fair but still meaningful to voters. Letsa explains how regimes tilt the playing field through subtle tools such as media control, electoral rules, and institutional manipulation, allowing them to maintain a façade of democracy. For many citizens – especially those not directly affected by repression – these practices are difficult to see, reinforcing perceptions of legitimacy.
Kempf and Letsa also discuss how ruling party and opposition supporters think about democracy itself. While most citizens in autocracies express strong abstract support for democracy, they often disagree sharply about whether their own regime qualifies as democratic. Ruling party partisans may acknowledge flaws but justify or excuse antidemocratic behavior in the name of stability, order, or national interest, while opposition supporters emphasize repression and unfair competition.
Finally, the episode highlights striking parallels between partisanship in autocracies and democracies. Letsa argues that partisan identities, motivated reasoning, polarization, and political socialization operate in surprisingly similar ways across regime types. Her work offers a cautionary lesson for democracies facing polarization and backsliding, showing how social identity, information environments, and partisan loyalty can shape citizens’ understanding of democracy itself.
Links:
- Learn more about Natalie Wenzell Letsa.
- Learn more about her book The Autocratic Voter: Partisanship and Political Socialization Under Dictatorship.
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Learn more about the Kellogg Institute.