Research
My research relates to different areas in Comparative Politics, including the conceptualization and measurement of regime transformations, the political economy of inequalities, and the development and trajectories of academic freedom and its consequences for academia and politics. Additionally, I focus on the conceptualization and measurement of democratic resilience. Empirically, I apply quantitative methods (e.g., multilevel models, differences-in-differences estimators for time-series cross-sectional data) and adopt a comparative perspective (cross-national comparisons) in my research projects. Below, you will find information on current working papers and projects.
Work in progress
- Lott, Lars, Katrin Kinzelbach, & Staffan I. Lindberg (2025). Can Free Academia Withstand Democratic Backsliding? Why some Universities Wither While Others Survive. accepted, International Political Science Review
- Lott, Lars (2025). How Academic Freedom Evolves. The Non-Democratic Roots of University Education and the Emergence of Academic Freedom. Revise and Resubmit
- Lott, Lars & Lutz Bornmann (2024). Is research performance related to academic freedom? A large-scale empirical analysis on the national level. Under Review
- Lott, Lars & Aurel Croissant (2025). Autocratic Deepening. In Handbook of Democratization and De-Democratization ed. Matthijs Bogaards. Berlin. De Gruyter. Submitted
- Lott, Lars (2025). Redistribution Mood and Economic Inequalities. Work in progress
- Lott, Lars (2025). Autocratization and the Distribution und Provision of Social Policies. Work in progress
- Lott, Lars (2021). How do past repression and indoctrination affect redistributive preferences? Work in progress