"When Indoctrination Backfires: Public Education Expansion and Contentious Politics in 19th-Century France" Under Review [Working Paper]
Abstract: How does the expansion of public education shape contentious politics? While existing evidence suggests that states expand education to promote social order, the extent to which it works has not yet been systematically studied. I investigate this issue within the context of 19th-century France, where primary education was explicitly designed to teach obedience to authorities. Exploiting quasi-random variation in access to schooling, I do not find evidence that education reduced mass resistance to the coup of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte in 1851. On the contrary, I show that localities with schools exhibited more insurgent activity and opposition to the regime at the ballot box. Schools appear to have facilitated the rise of contentious politics by increasing the use of literacy-driven communication technologies, enabling previously peripheral areas to engage with and participate in national-level politics. These findings demonstrate that education can create a more contentious citizenry, even when it is designed to promote obedience.
"Peasants into Citizens: Suffrage Expansion and the Rise of Mass Politics" (with Anne Degrave and Arturas Rozenas) Under Review [Working Paper]
Abstract: The concurrent rise of mass politics and democratic institutions represent two major global political trends of the past two centuries. We examine the relationship between these historical developments by investigating how voting rights have influenced mass political mobilization. Utilizing the discontinuous variation in suffrage levels in the French local elections during the July Monarchy (1830-1848), we find that broader suffrage increased political interest, collective mobilization, and opposition to autocracy. Even when introduced and practiced within an authoritarian system, the right to vote facilitates the development of a pro-democratic mass public.
"A Strategic Logic of Public Education Provision: Evidence from the Second French Empire" (with Kun Heo) Under Review [Working Paper]
Abstract: Previous work has argued that states provide education because it supports industrialization, nation-building, and social order. However, states do not operate in a vacuum, as other actors can also participate in school provision. Building on this insight, we argue that states may provide education not for its intrinsic value but to limit the influence of nonstate providers that jeopardize state authority. We examine this strategic logic during the Second French Empire (1852–1870), where the rapid expansion of Catholic schools had become a threat to the regime. Using a rich new dataset and drawing on a theoretical model to guide our analyses, we provide evidence that state officials promoted the creation of secular schools for girls to limit the expansion of Catholic schools rather than to expand overall access to education. Our findings suggest that existing explanations of public education expansion can be enriched by integrating strategic motives.
"Waves of Fear: Propaganda and Violence in the Spanish Civil War"
Abstract: Demoralizing the enemy's supporters is a central goal of propaganda during conflicts, but we know relatively little about how it shapes war outcomes. This paper helps fill this gap by investigating how demoralization campaigns affect the perpetration of wartime violence. To do so, I focus on the case of Radio Sevilla, a prominent radio station that the Nationalists used to intimidate Republican supporters during the Spanish Civil War. Leveraging quasi-exogenous variation in radio availability, I show that access to the Nationalist broadcasts decreased both Republican violence and subsequent Nationalist retaliation. The broadcasts plausibly diminished civilian collaboration with Republican armed groups, thereby reducing the Republicans' ability to carry out violence as well as the Nationalists' need for repression. These findings show that armies can use propaganda to undermine their enemy's ability to neutralize potential threats while simultaneously reducing their own repression needs.
"Primary Schools and Religious Mobilization in the Era of Mass Politics: Catholic education in the French Third Republic"
"War Refugees and Political Mobilization in Conflict: Evidence from Spanish Refugees in the French Resistance"