What affects public support towards a cooperation between pro-democracy activists and movements which are concerned with specific policy issues such as land, labor, and nationalist? When different social movements build coalitions to challenge authoritarian rule, autocrats are less likely to repress the movements, and more likely to institute democratic institutions. Yet, what influences public support towards such cross-movement coalitions is critically understudied in political science. Using survey experiments in Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Malaysia, which vary along regime types, and the salience of ethnic division, Mai Truong, PhD. Candidate in Political Science at University of Arizona, show that regime types, ethnic division, and the nature of policy-based movements interact to influence public support toward cross-movement coalitions under authoritarian rule.

Click here for more information.