Populism, Collective Narcissism, and Support for War

Abstract

Abstract People’s pro-war attitudes provide an important lens for understanding the various conflicts and wars taking place around the globe. The present research bridges the social psychological insights on ingroup identity with the macro realism theory of international relations studies. It examines the association of populism and collective narcissism with support for war under the conditions of offensive and defensive realist foreign policies. The research comprises two studies. Study 1 shows that populism is linked with offensive realism, whereas collective narcissism is associated with defensive realism. Study 2 further demonstrates that the perceptions of threat mediate the relationship between collective narcissism and support for war, rather than mediating the relationship between populism and support for war. Both populism and collective narcissism are related to authoritarianism. This research contributes to a theoretical understanding of the effects of populism and collective narcissism on resorting to military actions in international politics.