Peer-Reviewed Papers

Rahnama, Roxanne. “Monumental Changes: Confederate Symbol Removals and Racial Attitudes in the United States.” Journal of Politics, Vol .87, Num. 1 (January 2025). [manuscript] [appendix] [replication].

Abstract: Waves of activism following the mass murder of Black Americans in Charleston, South Carolina in 2015 resulted in the removal of hundreds of Confederate symbols across the South and the rest of the United States. What effect, if any, did these removals have on people’s attitudes and behavior regarding race and racial inequality? Using difference-in-differences strategies with panels of both individuals and geographic units, I find that the removal of Confederate symbols decreased racial resentment, increased support for affirmative action and warm feelings toward Blacks, and decreased anti-Black hate crimes. These effects were strongest at the most local level at which removals took place and decayed with greater distance from removal sites. These findings are congruent with an account that local residents interpreted removals of Confederate symbols as a shift toward liberalizing social norms regarding race.

Burde, Dana, Joel Middleton, Roxanne Rahnama, and Cyrus Samii. “Can Communities Take Charge? Testing Community-Based Governance to Sustain Schools in War-Affected Afghanistan.” (2025). Forthcoming, Journal of Politics. [manuscript][replication].

Abstract: We test whether a community-based governance strategy can succeed in sustaining service provision in war-affected communities where state-managed, centralized approaches had previously failed. Specifically, we test a community-based model for administering primary education in contemporary Afghanistan, an especially hard case. We use a randomized “equivalence trial” that evaluates performance relative to what international non-governmental organizations achieve. The community-based model succeeds in maintaining children’s learning and household satisfaction. It does not increase gender or ethnic bias nor does it result in resource misappropriation. However, survey results from a one-year follow-up with community leaders suggest that the long-term viability of the model depends on higher-level support being in place. Our results show that a community-based governance strategy can work in war-affected contexts where centralized strategies have failed.

Rahnama, Roxanne and Mark Williamson. “How Americans Evaluate Redistributive vs. Symbolic Racial Justice Policies.” [Pre-analysis plan]. [journal link] [replication]. Published Online, Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics (November 2025).

Abstract: Recent debates over how to address racial injustice in the United States often center on two types of policies: redistributive measures that redress material inequities between groups and symbolic reforms that challenge dominant racial narratives. How do citizens evaluate these differing approaches to advancing racial justice? How do recent removals of Confederate symbols shape support for each of these policy types? In a survey of American adults, we find that support for redistributive and symbolic policies is positively correlated across partisan, racial, and regional lines. However, when pressed, respondents express a stronger preference for redistributive measures, often viewing symbolic reforms as insufficient or distracting. In an experimental framework, we find that informing respondents about recent Confederate statue removals does not significantly alter support for either policy type. Looking at qualitative reactions to the treatment, we identify a plausible explanation for this null finding: most respondents see the removals as a fight over history and less directly relevant to a broader racial justice policy agenda.

Under Review

Rahnama, Roxanne and Jonne Kamphorst. “Education for Mobilization: The Effects of Knowledge about Labor History on Union Support.” [Pre-analysis plan]. [manuscript]. Revise & Resubmit at British Journal of Political Science. (shared first author).

Abstract: The U.S. working-class is less organized along class lines than in other advanced democracies. We propose a new explanation: the absence of education on historical class struggle and labor organizing weakens support for the contemporary labor movement. To test this, we conduct a survey experiment exposing respondents to educational videos about the history of an American union. Our survey focuses on non-college-educated whites in the U.S. South—where union membership is historically low and racial conflict has historically constrained class-based solidarity. We find that exposure to labor history increases enthusiasm for unions and cross-racial class coalitions. These effects appear to be driven by greater political efficacy, better understanding of unions’ material benefits, linked fate with the working-class, and increased allyship with marginalized groups. Our findings suggest that labor history education can shift political attitudes and foster greater class-based mobilization, even in contexts historically resistant to such organizing.

Works-in-Progress

Rahnama, Roxanne. “Ideology as Compensation: When Dominant Groups Mobilize Around Ideology to Sustain Hierarchy.” [manuscript]. Submitted.

Abstract: Under what conditions do dominant group elites mobilize around ideology to sustain hierarchy? I develop a theory of compensatory ideology — ideas, narratives, and symbols that elevate or restore a group’s perceived status — and argue that elites mobilize around ideology under specific threat conditions: when out-groups achieve high levels of advancement that elites cannot fully suppress, and when in-group discontent creates potential for fracture. Under these conditions, mobilization around compensatory ideology becomes an attractive response to stabilize in-group cohesion and manage perceived threats to hierarchy. I test this using the case of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC), an elite women’s organization that explicitly focused on spreading “Lost Cause” ideology across the Jim Crow South. Combining archival UDC meeting minutes (1900-1925) with county-level census data, I show that UDC chapters emerged where Black literacy was rising and intergroup economic competition and intrawhite inequality were high. These findings provide a framework for understanding when dominant groups turn to status-elevating ideology across contexts of intergroup competition and group threat.

Rahnama, Roxanne. “Stand by Your Man: Emasculation of Men and the Making of Conservative Women’s Groups.” [manuscript;].

Abstract: When are women at the forefront of conservative movements? This paper argues that shocks to men’s status drives women to mobilize around upholding patriarchal norms and traditional household and social gender roles. I test this theory using the case of the post-Civil War U.S. South and novel data on the formation of local chapters of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC), which mobilized extensively around honoring and rehabilitating the reputation of Confederate veterans through memorial and historical education activities that spread the “Lost Cause” ideology to Southern whites. Using county-level data on Civil War battles, I find evidence that UDC chapters were more likely to exist in counties where there were intensive negative shocks to Confederate soldiers’ lives and reputations, as measured by Confederate army battle losses. I support this argument with qualitative evidence on gendered humiliation of Confederate soldiers and discourse in UDC meeting minutes. This paper provides a new lens on women’s post-war activism: namely, the conditions under which women participate in spreading traditional gender ideology and reifying gender roles back to more conservative pre-war structures.

Rahnama, Roxanne, Elisa Wirsching, and Tyler Simko. “State Coercion and the Political Mobilization of US Teachers.”

Rahnama, Roxanne, Elisa Wirsching, and Tyler Simko. “Identity Politics and Teacher Selection – How Educational Gag Orders Influence the US Teacher Workforce.”

From another era (pre-PhD)

Peer-Reviewed Publications

“A utility approach to accelerate universal electricity access in less developed countries: A regulatory proposal”. IJ. Pérez-Arriaga, R. Stoner, R. Rahnama, S. Lee, G. Jacquot, E. Protzer, A. Garcia, R. Amatya, M. Brusnahan, and P. Dueñas, Economics of Energy & Environmental Policy 8 (1): 33-50 (2019).

Policy Publications

“Determinants of WTP among energy poor households: implications for planning models and frameworks“. R. Rahnama. Oxford Institute for Energy Studies Paper (EL 35): 1-33 (2019).

“Electrification planning with a focus on human factors”. R. Rahnama and IJ. Pérez-Arriaga. Oxford Energy Forum (115): 30-34 (2018).