Japanese people more susceptible to authoritarian messages: research

A research team has found that Japanese people tend to be more easily persuaded by the illiberal narratives of authoritarian regimes than by mainstream messages from democracies extolling freedom and human rights.At a time when countries such as China and Russia are increasingly adopting social media as a new tool to spread story-based messages that appeal to emotions and values, the Japanese team's findings suggest illiberal narratives could become a threat to democracy in Japan.In 2023, the team, led by Tetsuro Kobayashi, a professor of political psychology at Waseda University, surveyed …READ FULL ARTICLE