GLD would like to welcome you to our Spring 2025 Work-in-Progress Series. This series offers scholars from around the world an opportunity to present and receive feedback on their works in progress, including manuscripts, PAPs, conference papers, articles, etc. This series is virtual and open to anyone to attend; we look forward to seeing you there!
The Spring Work-in-Progress Series will be held on Zoom and in-person in Lilla Skansen at the Department of Political Science at the University of Gothenburg. If you plan to attend virtually, please register at the link above - you only need to register once and you will have access to the whole series.
Benjamin Yoel, Michigan State University
Authoritarian and backsliding regimes actively seek to delegitimize domestic opposition movements. But it remains unclear how international actors can shape public opinion about such movements. \textit{How does international rhetoric shape support for opposition movements in backsliding democracies?} I focus on three factors that I argue will shape the effect of international rhetoric on support for oppositions resisting democratic backsliding, specifically: 1) the country from which the international critic comes from, 2) the content of their rhetoric, namely whether it is positive or negative, and 3) respondents' commitment to democracy. I will test these arguments using an original single-profile conjoint experiment in Hungary (N=2,100), a country that has experienced incumbent-led democratic backsliding and received varying degrees of international criticism. My findings will contribute to research on international relations and regime change and add to our understanding of the determinants of public opinion on oppositions.
