Compliance on Campus: Universities and Pro-government Mobilization in Autocracies

• In Event: The New Illiberalism? 21st Century Technologies of Repression and Retrenchment

Abstract

The existing literature portrays university campuses as sites of anti-government protests where university students challenge both democratic and non-democratic regimes. However, this literature often neglects the proactive role of states in mobilizing students for their own support. This oversight becomes particularly significant within the context of autocracies, where state-led movements emerge as instruments of legitimacy and power consolidation. In this study, we ask whether universities can also serve as a bastion for pro-government mobilization - a possible outcome that has rarely been considered before by scholars of contentious politics. Moreover, we also ask what type of autocratic regime promotes higher levels of pro-government mobilization through university campuses. Lastly, what are the characteristics of university-related pro-regime mobilization?

To empirically investigate our questions concerning the role of universities in pro-government mobilization within autocracies, we used a diverse set of datasets. First, we used the Mass Mobilization in Autocracies and Dictatorship (MMAD) dataset, which offers comprehensive geocoded information on pro-government mobilization events across 93 autocratic countries from 2003 to 2019. To analyze the characteristics of autocracies and clarify the differences in their use of universities for pro-government mobilization based on varying degrees of control over education, we rely on the Varieties of Indoctrination (V-Indoc) dataset. Our preliminary findings show a positive correlation between universities and the occurrence of pro-government mobilization in autocracies. This suggests that, rather than promoting dissent, universities in autocracies can be strategically used to generate support for the regime. Further investigation utilizing V-Indoc data demonstrates that specific regime characteristics, such as a stronger emphasis on state ideology in education and a more centralized education system, further exacerbate this trend. These findings highlight the effectiveness of state penetration that extends beyond the mere control of universities, encompassing the shaping of educational content and structures to cultivate pro-regime sentiment among students.
Finally, to investigate the characteristics and mechanisms underlying the relationship between universities and pro-government mobilization, we focus on Iran as our case study. Drawing on a rich collection of original data that we gathered from 2009 to 2019, we illustrate the variation and evolution of student politics and identify the repertoires, tactics, and resources of university-oriented pro-regime mobilization in Iran.

Authors

• Saber Khani, Boston College

• Ali Kadivar, Boston College