Education, Indoctrination, and Mass Mobilization in Autocracies

In this article, we assess whether regime efforts at formal educational indoctrination affect&nbsp;mass mobilization in autocracies. While the literature often emphasizes the democratizing&nbsp;potential of education, mass schooling also offers a conduit for delivering pro-government&nbsp;propaganda aimed at indoctrinating the population. This strategy could directly affect&nbsp;mass mobilization by persuading citizens to support the regime or indirectly if citizens&nbsp;think others are persuaded. Propaganda through educational curriculum may also signal&nbsp;the regime’s strength, thereby reducing anti-government mobilization through dominance.&nbsp;Thus, formal education may undermine the democratic character of mass mobilization in&nbsp;authoritarian settings, particularly when education has higher indoctrination potential.<br><br>We test whether this is the case, drawing on a sample of autocratic spells from 1950&nbsp;to 2019. We find that education indoctrination potential is associated with less mass&nbsp;mobilization. In particular, the evidence shows that autocracies tend to experience less&nbsp;intense pro-democracy mobilization and a lower probability of an anti-system movement&nbsp;when they invest more in educational indoctrination. By contrast, educational indoctrination&nbsp;policies are associated with higher mobilization for autocracy, all else equal. This&nbsp;suggests that formal indoctrination helps insulate autocrats from bottom-up pressures&nbsp;for democratization and rally support through pro-government demonstrations.