Children of the State: Ideological Education Increases Support for Autocratic Leadership

Abstract

How does exposure to authoritarian content in education affect support for autocratic leadership? While higher levels of education are linked to less support for autocratic leadership, states often leverage education to foster regime loyalty in their population. Due to the unavailability of comprehensive data, previous research has not adequately examined how state interference in education might condition the link between education and support for autocratic leadership. Using historical data on education systems from the 20th century provided by the EPSM dataset, alongside individual-level survey data from the ESS and the WVS, this paper tests the conditioning effect of ideology in education. We employ causal inference methods by exploiting compulsory schooling reforms in 15 European countries and account for both the content in the curriculum and the teachers’ ideological convictions. The study highlights the role of regime-specific ideology and inter-personal socialization in shaping the strength of the ‘education effect’.