Research

Civil Society and Democracy

  1. Dissertation Book Project: Civil Society and Backsliding Incumbents

  2. Civil Society and De-Polarization During Crises. Working paper, draft available upon request.

  3. Elite Preferences in Ethnopopulist-Civil Society Relationships: Evidence  from Poland and Hungary. Working paper, draft available upon request.

  4. Mass Media, Social Networks, and Autocratic Resistance: Evidence from Radio Free Europe.  Working paper, draft available upon request.

Political Communication

  1. Conspiracy Theory Communication Strategies and Support for Anti-Democratic Behavior, with Courtney Blackington (Pittsburgh). Under review, draft available upon request.

  2. From Ink to Iron: the Malleus Maleficarum and Witchcraft Trials in 17th Century Poland, with Alexandra Cirone  (LSE). Work in progress.

  3. Blackington, Courtney and Frances Cayton. “How to Stay Popular: Threat, Framing, and Conspiracy Theory Longevity. Perspectives on Politics. 2024;22(4):1118-1139. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1537592723003006. 

  4. Blackington, Courtney, and Frances Cayton. 2024. “To Dog-Whistle or to Bark? Elite Communication Strategies When Invoking Conspiracy Theories.” Government and Opposition. https://doi.org/10.1017/gov.2024.21.

Democratic Preferences, Backsliding, and Resilience

  1. Democratic Restoration and Its Tradeoffs, with Hanna Folsz (Stanford). Work in progress. 

  2. Stakes and Affective Polarization, with Felix Beilin (Princeton). Work in progress. 

  3. Resuscitating Democracy: Endogenous Opposition Weaknesses in Poland and Malaysia, with Elvin Ong (National University of Singapore). Work in progress.

  4. Public Administration and Democratic Backsliding, with Bryn Rosenfeld, in Bunce, Pepinsky, Riedl and Roberts (Eds.)  Global Challenges to Democracy, Cambridge University Press, forthcoming 2025.

Public Opinion Research

  1. Framing and Sensitivity Bias in List Experiments, with Bryn Rosenfeld (Cornell). Work in progress.