Stories you cannot defeat! political myths as cultural integration and legitimation strategies of autocratic regimes

Abstract

Given the worldwide stagnation or even regression of democratization processes, autocratic regimes continue to pose a challenge for political science. In this regard, the merit of an original research on autocracies primarily results from the fact that it has drawn attention to the core elements, modes, and logics of operation, as well as the manifold types of regimes. In explaining autocratic regime persistence and legitimation, however, the dominance of institutionalist and economic approaches has led to a shortening of a complex phenomenon. Especially the lack of cultural variables still represents an open flank, which can be partly attributed to systematic limits of knowledge and implementation problems of quantitative approaches in non-democratic contexts. To address this issue, the article proposes the analysis of political myths as an integration and legitimation strategy of autocratic regimes, which will be formulated conceptually as a qualitative approach to political culture research. As transcultural phenomena, political myths narratively articulate the otherwise abstract ideological foundations of the political community, the regime, and the authorities. Thus, in addition to examining myth as a political science phenomenon, a post-behaviorist reading of David Easton’s concept of political support is offered to relate the ideological aspects of narration to different regime types, power structures, and cultural contexts.