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Shaping Minds, Securing Power: State-Directed Education and Cultural Hegemony in Eurasia

Thu, November 20, 5:00 to 6:45pm EST (5:00 to 6:45pm EST), -

Session Submission Type: Panel

Brief Description

This panel examines how education and culture affect authoritarian stability and control. Quintin Beazer, Olga Gasparyan, Holger L. Kern, Eugenia Nazrullaeva, Ksenia Northmore-Ball, and Katerina Tertytchnaya explore public attitudes toward patriotic education, finding strong support even when critiques are introduced. They highlight how state-driven educational initiatives can reinforce, rather than undermine, regime legitimacy. Michael Lokshin, Gulnaz Sharafutdinova, and Iván Torre investigate the long-term effects of communist educational legacies, showing that individuals with better-educated mothers are more likely to support democracy and market reforms. This effect is stronger in countries with deeper communist histories. Polina Protozanova and David Szakonyi analyze Russia’s Olimpiada competition, revealing that while the program prevents brain drain, it inadvertently channels high-achieving students into elite universities where they are more likely to support opposition movements. Finally, Daniella Slabinski demonstrates how illiberal legislation serves as a career advancement tool for MPs, contributing to a cultural ecosystem that sustains authoritarian rule. Together, these papers provide insight into the intersection of knowledge production and governance in contemporary Russia.

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