Research

Peer-reviewed articles

2024. Inequality and the Eroding Base of Liberal Democracy

Abstract. Previous studies broadly agree that economic inequality is negatively associated with popular support for democracy. This paper tackles this belief, testing it with more informative hypotheses. Capturing the insight from the theories of democratic attitudes and learning, this paper posits that increasing inequality would have differential effects on citizens’ normative support for democracy and their authoritarian inclination, and that those effects would also differ across the democratic regimes. Analyzing World Values Survey data covering 41 democracies over up to 25 years (1995–2020), this paper finds very little evidence for the association between inequality and normative support for democracy, whereas unearthing strong evidence for a varying effect of inequality on authoritarian inclination across the democratic regimes. It turns out where inequality is more severe, citizens in liberal democracies are more attracted to authoritarian leaders, whereas those in electoral democracies are less so. My findings refine the predominant thesis on the negative relationship between inequality and democratic support, detecting the complexities underlying it. My findings also shed new light on the theory of democratic learning and socialization by revealing the potential role of democratic regimes that remained unexplored in prior study. Lastly, this study provides a concrete explanation for how authoritarian leaders could win growing popular support in recent years where liberal democracy had most flourished.

2023. Conflicting Dynamics of Public Attitudes toward Austerity: Evidence from Europe (2010-2011)

Abstract. Recent research addresses two attitudes as key measures for public responses to austerity: the belief in the necessity of austerity and the willingness to tolerate its costs. These two measures, each representing preferential and behavioral attitudes toward austerity, are extensively discussed in existing literature. Little is known, however, about how they are related to each other. This paper raises the issue of compatibility between the two attitudes, investigating their individual/joint variations. Analysis of 22 European countries (2010–2011) gives evidence against the compatibility, calling special attention to behavioral reluctance to pay the costs of austerity and its implications for fiscal consolidation and redistributive politics in hard times.

2021. The Politics of Anti-Austerity Protest: South Korea in 1997-1998 and Greece 2009-2010

Abstract. Why does austerity confront varying degrees of popular resistance? While prior research primarily addresses the economic threat of austerity as the stimulus for anti-austerity protest, a growing volume of studies highlights the roles of external environments in moderating the mobilizing effect of austerity. This study challenges the recent literature on the moderating role of external environments, pointing out that it tends to overlook the distinction between structural and contingent aspects of external environments. I undertake a paired comparison of carefully chosen cases, South Korea in 1997–1998 and Greece in 2009–2010, to examine the moderating roles of the two aspects of external environments—each aspect is characterized through the notion of political opportunity drawing on Rootes’ work. Results reveal that structural and contingent opportunities played distinct roles in promoting (Greece) and hampering (South Korea) the growth of anti-austerity movements, initially triggered by the economic threat of austerity in both countries.


Work under review or in progress

(with Yunsub Lee) Manifold Gender Inequalities: Evidence from a Large-Scale Network Analysis 

Populism Non-Radicalized

The Illiberal Turn of the World

Inequality, Democracy, and Liberalism

Persuasion in the Age of Austerity: Keynes versus Hayek in the 21st century