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Authoritarianism and Attitudes toward the Environment in Croatia: A Central European Perspective

Anthropocentrism, characterized by the idea of human dominance over nature, and amplified in the 19th and 20th centuries by the belief in unlimited economic growth and technological optimism, ultimately resulted in the overexploitation of natural resources. The anthropocentric paradigm has been dominant in democratic as well as non- democratic regimes. However, the majority of existing research suggests that democracies take better care of the environment than autocracies and totalitarian systems. One of the main reasons is the popular vote and the supply of public goods. From the pragmatic perspective, democratic representatives are dependent on popular vote and thus more interested in providing high-quality public goods such as a healthy environment (Bättig & Bernauer, 2009 ; Deacon, 2009 ; Lake & Baum, 2001 ; Murdoch & Sandler, 1997). Furthermore, liberal principles such as the freedom of information and speech as well as the freedom to act mean that, even if democratic leaders put short-sighted economic interests above the environment, citizens are better informed about environmentally-friendly alternatives and more actively engaged in environmental protection (Barrett & Graddy, 2000 ; Carlsson & Lundström, 2003 ; Farzin & Bond, 2005 ; Li & Reuveny, 2006 ; McGuire & Olson, 1996 ; Olson, 1993 ; Schultz & Crockett, 1990 ; Winslow, 2005). In authoritarian and totalitarian regimes, pro-growth anthropocentrism of the ruling elite is left largely unchecked. One-person or one-party rule inhibits the dissemination of information and squelches any protest (Mazurski, 1991), passivizing the citizens. In the existing literature, authoritarianism is defined at the macro and micro levels of analysis (Parker & Towler, 2019). According to the classical definition by Linz (1964), authoritarianism relates primarily to a type of regime, different from others such as totalitarianism and democracy. Another approach is by Adorno et al. (1950) and Altemeyer (1981) who view authoritarianism as a personality trait. Altemeyer (1981) defines authoritarianism as consisting of three attitudinal clusters: obedience to authority, conventionality, and aggression toward “the others”. Authoritarian personality traits, as defined by Altemeyer (1981), whom we rely on in this chapter, are encouraged among the citizens in non-democratic regimes, however, they exist in democratic systems as well. It is not surprising that this type of personality further supports the dominant anti-environmental paradigm in non-democratic regimes as the authority to which obedience is required is pro- growth, the tradition that is encouraged to be preserved is anthropocentric and hostility toward the inferior others can be directed at both people and nature perceived as “the other”. It is interesting, however, that authoritarian personality traits have also been found to be strongly correlated with anti-environmentalism in democracies (Hyman, 1980, in: Schultz & Stone, 1994 ; Jackson et al., 2013 ; Milfont et al., 2013 ; Peterson et al., 1993 ; Schultz & Stone, 1994). A growing body of literature warns about the present crisis of democracy, backsliding of liberal democratic principles, and the rise of a right-wing authoritarian wave in established democracies of the West. Much has been written on de-democratization in Central and South-East Europe (Ágh, 2016 ; Bugaric, 2015 ; Hanley & Dawson, 2016 ; Krastev, 2007 ; Sedelmeier, 2014). If authoritarianism is closely related to anti- environmentalism in both non-democratic and democratic systems, i.e. with authoritarian personality traits that now seem to be on the rise, we pose the following question: What does the rise of authoritarian attitudes in these European democracies, some of which have already had a recent experience of authoritarian/totalitarian regimes, mean for their citizens’ attitudes toward environmental protection? In this chapter, we examine the relationship between authoritarianism and attitudes toward the environment in Croatia and compare it with seven other Central European countries: Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia. Six post-communist/post-socialist countries are particularly suitable for comparison as the legacy of communist/socialist regimes can still be felt in their economic, political, social, and cultural arenas. Austria and Germany are included as two additional CE countries as they share a strong connection with the other six, geographically and historically (see Introductory chapter of this volume for more details). None of these European Union countries has been bypassed by recent economic and immigration crises, which have left even the strongest democracies in Europe questioning their liberal democratic foundations and have resulted in a rise in authoritarian views among their citizens. We choose Croatia as the basis for our comparison because the existing research, including the last three waves of the European Values Study, shows a strong rise in authoritarian attitudes, even when compared to other CE countries. Croatia is also interesting because of its generally low level of environmental concern – Croatian citizens rate lower than the EU average regarding climate change (Ančić et al., 2016). This can also be attributed to the pre-democratic tradition of lacking interest in the environment and its protection as well as inherited lack of education about the importance of volunteering and having an active civil society (Baloban, 2007), including environmental topics. We will first discuss the reasons for recent reports of democratic backsliding in Central Europe, which is partly due to the fact that these are, except for Austria and Germany, relatively young post-communist/post-socialist democracies, but also to the wider context of the rising crisis of democracy in Europe. We will also explain the particularities of the Croatian context. Second, we will critically examine the existing research on democratic vs. authoritarian views in relation to the environment and its protection. Third, in the empirical part of the chapter, we will present basic methodological remarks and then discuss the results from our cross-country and cross-time analysis of these eight CE countries, based on the data provided by three waves of the European Values Study.

authoritarianism, environmental attitudes, Croatia, Central Europe, European Values Study, Authoritarianism Index, Environmental Indifference Index

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