Research
My research relates to the fields of Comparative Politics, Democratization Research and Comparative Authoritarianism. I am particularly interested in studying how economic and political inequalities affect political behavior of authoritarian elites and citizens living under an autocratic regime as well as how to measure and conceptualize regime transformation epsiodes (autocratization and democratization). Empirically, I apply quantitative methods (multilevel models, matching methods for panel data) and adopt a comparative perspective (cross-national comparisons with a focus on autocracies). Below you find information on current working papers and projects.
Work in progress
- Pelke, Lars & Katrin Kinzelbach (2022). Wie notwendig sind autonome Universitäten? Zum empirischen Zusammenhang der institutionellen und individuellen Wissenschaftsfreiheit. Accepted
- Pelke, Lars (2022). Academic Freedom and the Onset of Autocratization. Revise and Resubmit
- Pelke, Lars (2021). Reanalyzing the Link between Democracy and Economic Development. Under Review
- Pelke, Lars (2023). Academic Freedom Growth and Decline Episodes. Under Review
- Pelke, Lars & Janika Spannagel (2022). Quality Assessment of the Academic Freedom Index: Strengths, Weaknesses, and How Best to Use It. Working Paper
- Pelke, Lars (2021). How do past repression and indoctrination affect redistributive preferences? Draft in progress
- Croissant, Aurel & Pelke, Lars & Trinn Christoph (2021). Autocratization and Domestic Terrorism. Draft in progress
- Kuehn, David & Pelke, Lars (2020). Ethnicity and military behavior in authoritarian regime crises - a pilot study. Draft in progress