Jean-Nicolas 'Nick' Bordeleau
PhD Candidate (ABD) in Political Science
University of Ottawa
Welcome! My name is Nick Bordeleau and I am a PhD candidate (ABD) in political science at the University of Ottawa. I am completing my dissertation under the supervision of Dr. Daniel Stockemer, the Konrad Adenauer Research Chair in Empirical Democracy Studies. From June to December 2024, I was a visiting doctoral researcher with the Centre for Political Research (CEVIPOF) at Sciences Po, working with Professor Kevin Arceneaux.
My research interests fall at the intersection of the fields of political psychology and democracy, with particular focus on the role of citizens in democratic (in)stability. This includes understanding why some citizens tolerate undemocratic practices, explaining mass support for democratic backsliding, as well as making sense of political misinformation and false beliefs. Substantively, my objectives are to understand how citizens can be both the bulwark against the erosion of democracy as well as supporters of democratic backsliding, and providing solutions to prevent the latter from taking place. I seek answers to these puzzles primarily through quantitative research methods, with a focus on survey research and experimental approaches.
Upcoming / Latest Research
Young people are less supportive of democracy and more tolerant of a wide range of undemocratic practices (Preprint)
Recent scholarship has highlighted growing concerns about the erosion of democratic norms and values, particularly among younger citizens. This research agenda remains ambiguous, however, especially regarding the extent to which young people’s democratic disconnect results in a shift towards undemocratic politics. In this research, I rely on a multi-method approach to examine differences in democratic attitudes across age groups. Using observational and experimental data, I provide robust cross-national evidence that younger citizens’ support for democracy is substantially lower than older citizens. Building on these findings, I further demonstrate that youth are far more tolerant of a wide range of undemocratic practices and democratic norm violations. Lastly, I present the results of a conjoint experiment which confirms that younger citizens have significantly lower preferences for democratic societal attributes when compared to their older counterparts. Substantively, these findings contribute to a growing literature on the vulnerability of consolidated democracies to younger peoples’ shifting attitudes towards democratic institutions and norms.
Conspiracy Theories and their Believers: A Comparative Outlook (Cambridge Elements)
Co-authored with Daniel Stockemer
This Element leverages a comparative approach to understand how conspiracy theories and their believers differ within and across countries. Using original survey data from eight varied cases (Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Lebanon, Morocco, South Africa, and the United States) the authors present specific contemporary conspiracy theories, illustrate how these theories appeal in their national context, and determine whether the characteristics of the typical conspiracy theory believer vary across setting. They first demonstrate that there is a wide range of conspiracy theories, some of which have worldwide reach, whereas others are more context specific. Then, they show that the determinants of individual conspiracism are very similar in the Western world and Brazil, but do not necessarily travel to Lebanon, Morocco and South Africa. Lastly, they summarize the main conclusions of this Element and discuss the need for greater comparative research on conspiracy theories and propose clear areas for future research.