Replication Data for: \"Can free academia withstand democratic backsliding? Why some universities wither while others survive\"

Academic freedom faces worldwide threats, including in some democracies that have traditionally been viewed as bastions of free universities. In the 21st century, academic freedom has declined in 20 (former) democracies, ranging from slow deterioration to abrupt collapse. Previous research shows that attacks on academic freedom are systematically linked to democratic backsliding. However, in some democracies that experience backsliding, academia remains autonomous. We employ data from the Varieties of Democracy project, utilizing the Episodes of Regime Transformation dataset and the Academic Freedom Index, alongside data on decline and growth episodes in academic freedom. Through an explorative study design, we analyze various political and academia-related determinants of academia's resilience amidst democratic backsliding. Our analysis shows that an autocratization episode reduces academic freedom resilience only slightly to levels between 96.7% and 95.5% for a given country-year, compared to over 99.5% for country-years without such episodes. Overall, our analysis highlights remarkable academic resilience.

学术自由正面临全球性威胁，即便在部分曾被视为自由大学堡垒的民主国家亦未能幸免。21世纪以来，已有20个（前）民主国家的学术自由出现衰退，程度从缓慢恶化直至骤然崩塌不等。既往研究表明，针对学术自由的攻击与民主倒退存在系统性关联。但在部分经历民主倒退的民主国家中，学术界仍保持自主性。本研究使用了多样性民主（Varieties of Democracy）项目的数据，包括政权转型事件数据集（Episodes of Regime Transformation dataset）、学术自由指数（Academic Freedom Index），以及学术自由衰退与增长事件相关数据。本研究采用探索性研究设计，分析了民主倒退背景下学术界韧性的各类政治及学术相关决定因素。分析结果显示，在特定国家-年度观测单元中，威权化事件仅会使学术自由韧性小幅下降至96.7%至95.5%之间；而未发生此类事件的国家-年度单元，其学术自由韧性可达99.5%以上。总体而言，本研究的分析结果凸显了学术界显著的韧性水平。