Universities and Pro-government Mobilization in Autocratic Regimes

Universities are widely viewed as hotbeds of dissent and anti-government protest. This study complements and complicates this understanding by showing that, in autocratic regimes, universities also function as vehicles of pro-government mobilization. Authoritarian governments cultivate regime-affiliated student organizations and align incentives—particularly through public-sector career opportunities—to organize and sustain state-led participation on campuses. We show this argument through a mixed-methods approach. First, we conduct the first cross-national, subnational analysis of pro-government mobilization across 93 autocratic regimes from 2003 to 2019, using grid-cell and country-level data. Areas with more universities consistently experience higher levels of pro-government mobilization, a relationship that remains robust across alternative model specifications. Second, comparative case studies of China, Russia, and Iran illustrate the mechanisms through which autocratic regimes cultivate campus-based mobilization. Our findings highlight the often-overlooked mobilizational role of universities in authoritarian contexts, adding a new dimension to research that has primarily portrayed campuses as sites of dissent.