| The purpose of this dissertation is to understand how ethno-nationalist elites are able to gain mass support for chauvinistic policies that seek to discriminate an out-group. Research on ethnic conflict and nationalism suggests that political elites play a pivotal role in the mobilization process that sets the stage for group conflict. While this line of research has demonstrated in great detail the strategies that elites can use to rally mass populations against an out-group, it has yet been able to explain why leaders employing such strategies are successful. Building on insights from symbolic politics theory and psychological research on transformational leadership and inspirational motivation, I posit that successful leaders appeal to hostile myths and symbols about the out-group to evoke strong negative emotions such as fear and anger, while also appealing to positive emotions that rouse a sense of self-worth and optimism for the in-group's future. The rousing of self-worth and optimism serves as psychological incentive for supporting aggressive policies. I test this theory with two controlled experiments that focus on Islamophobia in the United States, where participants were asked to respond to campaign speeches made by a fictitious Congressional candidate who proposes harsh discriminatory policies against Muslims living in the U.S. A major finding of the experiments was that positive emotions associated with national pride and optimism were key determinants of support for aggressive discriminatory policies, which are variables that have yet to be addressed in ethnic conflict, nationalism, and racism research. |
