Chris Claassen

Conceptualizing and Measuring Support for Democracy: A New Approach - Christopher Claassen, Kathrin Ackermann, Eri Bertsou, Lucas Borba, Ryan E. Carlin, Amnon Cavari, Sirianne Dahlum, Sergiu Gherghina... Much of what we know about public support for democracy is based on survey questions about “democracy,” a term that varies in meaning across countries and likel...

A group of us published this recently - doi.org/10.1177/0010...

With @robjohns75.bsky.social, we ask: do people infer class from accents? And does that matter for candidate evaluations?

The answer is yes and yes.

Really interesting study! Love seeing the panel survey setup -- such a powerful design but seldom used. My reading is that contemporary authoritarianism in political science research often looks at interactive effects (threats activating latent tendencies, ala Feldman) vs. simple direct links?

Our article w/Justin Robinson on authoritarianism in 🇬🇧 is published in the new issue of @polbehavior.bsky.social

We employ a longitudinal analysis using the @britishelectionstudy.com to investigate the causal effect of the psychological trait of authoritarianism on political attitudes and voting 🧵

This is a really cool paper on the socialisation effects of studying at University. Surprisingly, the effects (moving in a leftward, liberal direction) are biggest for STEM students and those who move away from home to study, attend a single campus uni, and who live in ‘university towns’ and London.

Our article 'A Crisis of Political Trust?' led by @viktorv.bsky.social is now out in @bjpols.bsky.social! We use >3,000 surveys in 143 countries between 1958 and 2019, finding that trust in representative institutions has generally been declining in recent decades. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

How do autocrats stay in power?

Our new research dives into the strategies of political control—repression, co-optation, and indoctrination—used across 229 autocracies from 1946 to 2010. What we found will change the way you think about authoritarian resilience. 🧵👇

BJPolS abstract discussing an abstract from a statistical analysis on MPs in the UK House of Commons and their endorsements of Liz Truss based on social media following.

#OpenAccess from our latest issue -

Estimating Ideal Points of British MPs Through Their Social Media Followership - cup.org/3Cekdyr

- @conorgaughan.bsky.social

Big implications here for age-based polarisation if we continue to see rural and coastal areas grow older, while city populations get younger. No easy answers, but incentivising new work from home jobs could help to spread more opportunities for young people further outside big cities

"This paper identifies an important bias — termed dynamic bias — in fixed effects panel estimators that arises when dynamic feedback [past outcomes influencing current outcomes] is ignored in the estimating equation." klosins.github.io/Klosin_JMP.pdf #econsky

Do radical right parties need to detach themselves from the legacy of right-wing authoritarian regimes to be successful? It would appear not, or not anymore. New work with @anjaneundorf.bsky.social now forthcoming at @thejop.bsky.social. A couple of thoughts 👇

Are you interested in political trust but think 'actually, it's a bit more complicated than that'? You'd be right!

In a draft paper, we use original data from 13 surveys across 11 countries & 52 focus groups w/ 311 participants in 8 countries, arguing that trust, mistrust, & distrust are distinct:

good to see the economist still running the "Indonesia at a crossroads" gag from a Simpsons episode 20 years ago

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KJS...

Political neglect and support for the radical right: The case of rural Portugal Why are rural voters more likely to support radical right parties? This paper examines the mechanisms behind the relationship between living in a rura…

So happy to share an article co-written with @joaoc.bsky.social now out in Political Geography, a journal I always liked a lot. It's called "Political neglect and support for the radical right: The case of rural Portugal". It's open access. I hope you like it. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

The last paper of my dissertation just got published in @cpsjournal.bsky.social ! Together with Jonathan Rodden I compared urban-rural electoral divides over time across 15 countries, at the level of elections and individual parties. Check out our dataset and results here: doi.org/10.1177/0010...

Climate change experiences raise environmental concerns and promote Green voting - Nature Climate Ch... Exposure to extreme weather events could increase environmental concerns and support for Green parties. With high-resolution data across European countries, the authors demonstrate the existence of su...

I've been wanting someone to do this kind of analysis: merging personal experience with climate change events with public attitudes toward climate change. This 2022 paper is, as my 13yo would say, busin'. Not surprised Piero Stanig is on this author list.

Polisky

Paper here: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

We test our 17 questions in 19 countries. We find that disjunctures in how our item cohere reveal faultlines in political cultures that can be exploited by authoritarians. We also identify a set of 7 items that provide a reliable and valid measure of public support for liberal democracy. [3/3]

Instead, we - a consortium of 22 experts on public opinion and democracy - propose a new approach. Rather than asking respondents about democracy, we ask them to evaluate the rights and institutions that constitute liberal democracy, based on the V-Dem operationalization. polisky [2/3]

Public support for democracy is crucial to prevent backsliding. But existing survey questions focusing on “democracy” may not measure the concept well, as the term “democracy” varies in meaning and may prompt social desirability. polisky 1/3

Every wanted to know how left- or right-wing your MP is on economic issues? A new Survation / Royal Holloway collaboration allows you to do just that mpsleftright.co.uk

Very happy to see this paper on the rural 🚜 urban 🏙️ divide out in @wepsocial.bsky.social

Together with Rubén Garcia del Horno and Guillem Rico we show that rural residents feel political elites are less responsive to their demands

t.co/9gMIvuFRsC

Fascinating new APSR paper by @dziblatt.bsky.social, @hannohilbig.bsky.social, and @danbischof.bsky.social!