New Publication: PALS Survey Reveals Competing Visions of Self-determination
What do people consider essential for living a self-determined life? In a new article in the European Journal of Political Research, Heiko Giebler, Lukas Antoine and Rasmus Ollroge analyse PALS survey data to examine how authoritarian orientations relate to understandings of freedom.
News from Oct 14, 2026
The study distinguishes five conditions for self-determination: physical well-being, basic economic security, learning and personal growth, moral equality, and influence over political decision-making. People with stronger authoritarian orientations place less importance on the distinctly liberal conditions of moral equality and political influence, but greater importance on physical well-being. There is no meaningful association with support for basic economic security.
These differences are generally wider in more modernised societies. Rather than suggesting that people with authoritarian orientations reject self-determination altogether, the findings reveal differences in the conditions they prioritise. Contestation over liberalism therefore extends beyond policies and institutions to fundamental understandings of what it means to live freely.
The article, “Authoritarian orientations and the contestation of liberal self-determination: Cross-national evidence from 30 countries”, was published online on 13 October 2026.