Authoritarian Threats to Scientific Knowledge

Objective

The growth of scientific knowledge is a towering achievement of humankind, but its societal causes remain underexplored. What makes some societies more fertile for science? AutoKnow will answer this by investigating how authoritarian rule affects scientific knowledge production. Authoritarian regimes are investing heavily in science and democratic backsliding threatens several democracies. How is science affected by authoritarian rule? AutoKnow will address this, elaborating a new theory of 'science and authoritarian rule' explaining how scientific knowledge production is affected by i) authoritarian regimes vs. democracies, ii) authoritarian regime features (e.g., ideology, repression, institutions), and iii) authoritarian politics in backsliding democracies. To test the theory, AutoKnow will compile global data on attacks on science, published scientific output, and (surveys of) social norms relating to science (among scientists), linked to data on authoritarian rule across countries and levels of analysis. The project will study when and why authoritarian rulers launch attacks on scientists, and if authoritarian rule influences scientific norms (among scientists) using survey-data. Crucially, AutoKnow considers the effects of authoritarian rule on the contents of scientific publications, focusing on scientific progress and political influence. AutoKnow will use computational language-model analysis of millions of published scientific abstracts to capture performance dimensions, e.g. scientific disruptiveness and idea novelty, and in the social sciences and humanities, political bias and censorship. These insights will be integrated with state-of-the-art data on authoritarian rule, authoritarian regime features and politics at various levels (e.g., countries and academic institutions). AutoKnow will reveal how authoritarian rule impacts science, helping stakeholders protect scientific progress in the face of authoritarian threats.