Research

Besir Ceka – Google Scholar Profile

Publications and work in progress:

New and forthcoming publications

Stoeckel, Florian, Sabrina Stöckli, Besir Ceka, Chiara Ricchi, Ben Lyons, and Jason Reifler. 2024. “The Double-Edged Sword of User Comments: Social Corrections Reduce the Perceived Accuracy of Both False and Real News in the UK, Germany, and Italy.”Communications Psychology 2 (1): 1-17. [PDF]

Abstract

Corrective or refutational posts from ordinary users on social media have the potential to improve the online information ecosystem. While initial evidence of these social corrections is promising, a better understanding of the effects across different topics, formats, and audiences is needed. In three pre-registered experiments (N=1944 UK, N=2467 Italy, N = 2210 Germany) where respondents completed a social media post assessment task with false and true news posts on various topics (e.g., health, climate change, technology), we find that social corrections reduce perceived accuracy of and engagement with false news posts. We also find that social corrections that flag true news as false decrease perceived accuracy of and engagement with true news posts. We did not find evidence to support moderation of these effects by correction strength, anti-expert sentiments, cognitive reflection capacities, or susceptibility to social influence. While social corrections can be effective for false news, they may also undermine belief in true news.

Peer-reviewed articles

Tobias Lenz, Besir Ceka, Liesbet Hooghe, Gary Marks, and Alexandr Burilkov. 2023. “Discovering Cooperation: Endogenous Change in International Organizations.” Review of International Organizations 18 (4): 631–66. [PDF]

Abstract

Why do some international organizations (IO) accrete more delegated authority over time while in others delegation is static or declines? We hypothesize that the dynamics of delegation are strongly shaped by an IO’s founding contract. IOs rooted in an open-ended contract have the capacity to discover cooperation over time: as new problems arise these IOs can adapt by adopting new policies or strengthening collaboration in existing areas. This, in turn, triggers a demand for delegation. However, this logic is mediated by the political regime of the IO. In predominantly democratic IOs, delegation appears constrained by politicization which intensifies as an IO’s policy portfolio broadens. These claims are tested using an updated version of the Measure of International Authority dataset covering 41 regional IOs between 1950 and 2019. Controlling for alternative explanations and addressing potential endogeneity across a range of model specifications, we find robust support for our arguments.

Stoeckel, Florian and Besir Ceka. 2023. “Political tolerance in Europe: The role of conspiratorial thinking and cosmopolitanism.” European Journal of Political Research 62 (3): 699–722. [PDF]

Abstract

Tolerance has long been identified as a crucial feature of liberal democracies. Although the limits of tolerance are debated, the extent to which citizens are open and willing to accommodate others who are different from them is often regarded as a sign of a healthy and well-functioning liberal democracy. The goal of this paper is to empirically investigate the state of political tolerance in Europe today. The main questions we ask are: What explains the different levels of tolerance across individuals in various countries? Which groups in society are the most likely targets of intolerance? We understand political tolerance as the willingness to allow the free articulation of interests and ideas in the political system of groups one opposes. Previous research emphasizes education, civic activism and threat perceptions as important determinants of tolerance. We redirect the debate to a set of novel correlates of tolerance. We argue that conspiratorial thinking and cosmopolitanism are critical factors that explain levels of tolerance among Europeans. The analysis employs original survey data collected as part of a mass survey conducted in 2017 in 10 European Union member states: Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom. Our descriptive analysis shows that far-right groups (i.e., fascists and neo-Nazis) and Muslims are the most disliked groups in Europe. When it comes to the level of tolerance towards these groups, we find that more than half of the respondents in each country are willing to deny their most disliked group parliamentary representation. Moreover, we find that even after controlling for traditional determinants of tolerance, conspiratorial thinking and cosmopolitanism emerge as the most important predictors of political tolerance. Our analysis suggests that the recent rapid spread of various conspiracy theories related to the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to have far-reaching implications for tolerance as well.

Ceka, Besir, and Pedro C. Magalhães. 2020. “Do the Rich and the Poor Have Different Conceptions of Democracy? Socioeconomic Status, Inequality, and the Political Status Quo.” Comparative Politics 52 (3): 383–412. [PDF]

Abstract

In this study, we investigate how socioeconomic status is related to people’s commitment to liberal democracy. Based on sociological and psychological theories of social conflict and dominance, we argue that those who enjoy a more privileged position in the social hierarchy tend to develop stronger preferences for the existing social and political order. Conversely, people in underprivileged positions tend to be less supportive of that order. Hence, we expect the relationship between socioeconomic status and commitment to liberal democracy to be context-specific: positive in liberal democracies but negative in autocracies. Furthermore, we argue that income inequality amplifies these dynamics, widening the gap between low and high status individuals. We test our hypotheses using the 5th wave of the World Value Surveys.

Ceka, Besir, and Andrew J. O’Geen. 2019. “Evaluating Student Performance on Computer-Based versus Handwritten Exams: Evidence from a Field Experiment in the Classroom.” PS: Political Science & Politics 52 (04): 757–62. [PDF]

Abstract

The use of course management software such as Blackboard, Moodle, and Canvas has become ubiquitous at all levels of education in the United States. One potentially useful feature of these products is the ability for instructors to administer assessments like quizzes and tests, which are flexible, easy to customize, quick and efficient to grade. While computer-based assessments offer clear advantages, instructors might worry about their effect on student performance. This paper evaluates whether student performance differs between hand-written and computer-based exams through a randomized field experiment conducted in a research methods course. Overall our findings suggest a significant improvement in student performance on computer-based exams that is driven primarily by the relative ease of producing thorough responses on the computer versus by hand.

Ares, Macarena, Besir Ceka, and Hanspeter Kriesi. 2017. “Diffuse Support for the European Union: Spillover Effects of the Politicization of the European Integration Process at the Domestic Level.” Journal of European Public Policy 24 (8): 1091–1115. [PDF]

Abstract

This article investigates the link between attitude formation at the national and the supranational level of the European Union (EU). While the existing studies have provided strong evidence that attitudes towards national institutions fundamentally condition attitudes towards the EU, the mechanisms through which these spillovers occur are not clearly spelled out. Our main contribution is to theorize the complex ways in which the national politicization of the European integration process affects support for the EU by focusing on critical moments in the EU integration process and the electoral fortunes of the political parties doing the cuing. To test our theoretical claims, we employ multilevel models using six rounds of the European Social Survey combined with party-level data from Chapel Hill Expert Survey, and various country-level data. The analyses show that spillover effects are crucially conditioned by the level of politicization of European integration at the national level.

Ceka, Besir and Aleksandra Sojka. 2016. “Loving it but not Feeling it yet? The State of European Identity After the Eastern Enlargement.” European Union Politics 17 (3): 482-503. [PDF]

Abstract

The inclusion of eleven new member states from the former Eastern bloc constitutes a significant challenge to the European Union (EU) in various respects. Many worry that whatever tenuous “European identity” existed prior to the eastern enlargement, it has now become so diluted that no meaningful European political community can come to fruition. Are there systematic differences in the level of European identification in Eastern and Western Europe? This paper seeks to address this question through a comparative analysis of affective and cognitive European identity in the old and the new Central and Eastern European (CEE) member states of the EU. Our findings indicate that the accession of new countries from the East might end up reinvigorating supranational identity formation in Europe.

Armingeon, Klaus, and Besir Ceka. 2014. “The Loss of Trust in the European Union during the Great Recession since 2007: The Role of Heuristics from the National Political System.” European Union Politics 15 (1): 82–107. [PDF]

Abstract

How can we explain the decline in support for the European Union and the idea of European integration after the onset of the great recession in the fall of 2007? Did the economic crisis and the austerity policies that the EU imposed — in tandem with the IMF — on several member countries help cause this drop? While there is some evidence for this direct effect of EU policies, we find that the most significant determinant of trust and support for the EU remains the level of trust in national government. Based on cue theory and using concepts of diffuse and specific support we find that support for the EU is derived from evaluations of national politics and policy, which Europeans know far better than the remote political system of the EU. This effect, however, is somewhat muted for those sophisticated Europeans that are more knowledgeable about the EU and are able to form opinions about it independently of the national contexts in which they live. We also find that the recent economic crisis has led to a discernible increase in the number of those who are disillusioned with politics both at the national and the supranational level. We analyze 133 national surveys from 27 EU countries by estimating a series of cross-classified multilevel logistic regression models.

Ceka, Besir. 2013. “The Perils of Political Competition Explaining Participation and Trust in Political Parties in Eastern Europe.” Comparative Political Studies 46 (12): 1610–35. [PDF]

Abstract

This paper explains the puzzling finding that post-communist citizens living in countries with higher quality institutions have lower levels of political trust and participation. Why does political trust and participation not follow the quality of democratic institutions? I argue that in post-communist Europe vibrant and robust political competition has stifled trust and, in turn, participation. Using multi-level data, I show that the polities that experienced vibrant political competition in their electoral arenas also witnessed the highest levels of disillusionment with political parties and, consequently, with the political system. Decades of monopolization of the electoral arena by communist parties left Eastern Europeans ill prepared to appreciate vigorous political competition which, depending on its intensity, tended to depress trust in political parties as an institution and, consequently, stifled political participation.

Book

Liesbet Hooghe, Gary Marks, Tobias Lenz, Jeanine Bezuijen, Besir Ceka, Svet Derderyan. 2017. Measuring International Authority: A Postfunctionalist Theory of Governance, Volume III. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Table of contents Vol III

Abstract

This book sets out a measure of authority for seventy-six international organizations (IOs) from 1950, or the time of their establishment, to 2010 which can allow researchers to test expectations about the character, sources, and consequences of international governance. The international organizations considered are regional (e.g. the EU, Andean Community, NAFTA), crossregional (e.g. Commonwealth of Nations, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation), and global (e.g. the UN, World Bank, WTO). First, we introduce carefully constructed estimates for the scope and depth of authority exercised by international governments. The estimates are unique in their comparative scope, their specificity, and time span. Second, we describe broad trends in IO authority by comparing delegation and pooling, over time, across IOs, and across decision areas. Third, we present the evidence that we have gathered to estimate international authority by carefully discussing forty-seven international organizations, and showing how their bodies are composed, what decisions each body makes, and how they make decisions.

Book chapters

Ceka, Besir and Pedro C. Magalhães. 2016. “How People Understand Democracy: A Social Dominance Approach.” In How Europeans View and Evaluate Democracy, edited by Mónica Ferrín and Hanspeter Kriesi, 90-110. Oxford University Press. [PDF]

Monograph

Marks, Gary, Tobias Lenz, Besir Ceka and Brian Burgoon. 2014. “Discovering
Cooperation: A Contractual Approach to Institutional Change in Regional
International Organizations.” EUI Working Paper RSCAS 2014/65, Robert
Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, Global Governance Programme. [PDF]

Works in progress

  • “Distrust, Conspiracies, and the Political Challenges of Coping with Covid-19.” Work in progress.
  • “The Determinants of Citizens’ Views of Democracy.” Work in progress.
  • “What Drives Public Support for Ukraine in Germany?” Work in progress.
  • “Causes and Consequences of Emigration from the Western Balkans to Western Europe.” Work in progress.
  • “Trust in Political Institutions: A Relative Deprivation Approach.” Work in progress.
  • “Mind the Gap: The Different Levels of Trust in EU and National Institutions.” Work in progress.

Short articles and essays

  • Ceka, Besir. 2018. “Macedonia: A New Beginning?” Journal of Democracy 29 (2): 143–57. [PDF]
  • Bryan, Alyssa and Besir Ceka. 2016. “After Paris, Europe Must Deny Power to Far Right.” The Charlotte Observer, March 19.
  • Ceka, Besir. 2014. Something to trust. The European, March 31. 
  • Ceka, Besir. 2013. The EU may have a democratic deficit, but national governments are facing an even greater legitimacy crisis. LSE EUROPP Blog, October 29.