Abstract
In recent years, several democracies have experienced episodes where democratically elected incumbents undermine core democratic rights, norms, and institutions. The phenomenon of why citizens continue to vote for these undemocratic politicians is, however, a puzzle that remains unsolved. Leading explanations in political science argue that an educated population will lead to the demise of authoritarian regimes. However, the democratic erosion evolving today includes modern democracies with well-established educational systems. Accordingly, this thesis explores how citizens' education level is associated with their tolerance of undemocratic behavior and investigates whether it differs between citizens in mature and younger democracies. While extensive literature on the willingness to vote for undemocratic politicians has focused on candidate attributes, little is known about how underlying mechanisms influence citizens’ choices. By extending upon a conjoint survey experiment conducted in five modern democracies, I find evidence supporting that education is an essential factor for democratic stability. My results show that citizens with a higher level of education punish undemocratic behavior more than citizens with a lower education level. Furthermore, by calculating country-specific democratic legacies, I also find that citizens with experience from education in autocracies tolerate undemocratic behavior more than those who have only experienced education in democracies. The empirical findings align with my theoretical expectations, indicating that the government uses the education system to socialize citizens into preferring the political regime in both democracies and autocracies. Accordingly, in light of the prevailing trend of autocratization, education can be a potential remedy against democratic backsliding. This appears to be especially true for younger democracies where citizens were previously socialized into autocratic values.