Inlay

This is our first take interpreting our empirical results: please share, as we hope to stir productive discussion! We are also open to feedback as the full manuscript w/ results is still under review at @thejop.bsky.social (which in-principle accepted our registered report a few months back). (7/7)

In particular, we do find consistent evidence that education cultivates critical historical awareness & facilitates democratic citizenship. We also uncover some suggestive evidence that citizens react more to the salience of past backsliding than to its similarities to the present. (6/7)

There appear to be two key factors mitigating the democratic inoculation effect. The first is 𝗺𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗮𝗻 𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗸-𝗶𝗻 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: partisanship appears to so massively & directly shape democratic attitudes that it leaves little room for movement from reflecting on the past. (3/7)

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀? First, we sound an alarm bell for democratic resilience: rising polarization & disaffection with politics may hamper citizens from learning from past backsliding to avoid a relapse. Yet, we do find some 𝘀𝗶𝗹𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 that could anchor future policy & research (5/7)

The second factor is 𝘄𝗶𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗮𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀 especially among less polarized & centrist respondents: qualitative text analysis suggests that reminders of past backsliding can be demobilizing, feeding the perception that politics is irredeemable & fighting for democracy is futile (4/7)

I'm shocked and so deeply saddened that my colleague and friend, Ran Hirschl, passed away. A towering figure in law and politics, he was so supportive of junior faculty like me, and had so much intellectual firepower to go. I'll miss him so much 😢 www.politics.utoronto.ca/news/memoria...

We ran a survey experiment prompting Slovaks to reflect on backsliding in the 1990s. 𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝘅𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘆-𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀, 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝗽𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸𝘀𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗻𝗲𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝗰𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗻𝘀’ 𝘃𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗴𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝗿 𝗯𝗼𝗹𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗶𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗶𝗯𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗰𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗺𝘀. Why? (2/7)

𝗖𝗮𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗰𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸𝘀𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗽𝗮𝘀𝘁 “𝗶𝗻𝗼𝗰𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲” 𝗰𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗶𝗯𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗰𝗿𝗮𝘁𝘀 𝘃𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗴𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀? A few months back @movadek.bsky.social & I promised we would try to find out. 𝗪𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝘀𝗼𝗯𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗻𝗲𝘄𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗦𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗮: tinyurl.com/2add6c2a (1/7)