What accounts for the observed political apathy and associated authoritarian persistence in some countries despite their economic achievements? We develop a theoretical model of endogenous political preference formation and analyze its implications for the prospect of democracy. Agents, with present-biased preferences, invest in their political preference in the trade-off between curbing impulsive participation in protests and reaping democratic benefits from successful protests. The model features two distinct types of equilibria: political apathy and political engagement. Countries with an indulgent culture (high present-bias) are more likely to foster active political participation and democratic development, while countries with a culture of self-restraint (low present-bias) are more prone to political apathy, leading to opposite outcomes. Empirically, we use the Indulgence versus Restraint index from Hofstede’s cultural dimensions as a measure of self-restraint culture and find evidence that individuals in countries with strong self-restraint culture are less inclined to participate in political actions. We also uncover a negative association between self-restraint culture and the levels of democracy, as well as civil society development. Our instrumental variable (IV) estimations support causal interpretations of these relationships. These findings shed light on the formation of motivated preferences and their impact on social movements and political change.