My research examines the politics of censorship with a focus on how both states and citizens use cultural restrictions to shape political outcomes. In my published work, I demonstrate that censorship can bolster trust in ruling institutions while undermining trust in opposition forces, showing that both authoritarian and democratic regimes may strategically deploy cultural control. I also investigate the demand side of censorship, finding that citizens themselves often call for restrictions to protect social norms and vulnerable groups, a dynamic I extend through survey experiments in the United States.

Articles

Grenier, Kelly. “Cultural Censorship and Institutional Trust in Africa.” African Studies Quarterly 22, no. 3 (2024): 1-25.

ABSTRACT: What are the consequences of cultural censorship on trust? Previous literature on institutional and political trust informs this article which extends the work to consider the importance of artistic spaces for shaping political attitudes. These spaces may allow individuals to form trust relationships with each other. The importance of these cultural spaces is highlighted when, in both democracies and autocracies, we observed cultural censorship. While the rationale for censorship may differ across regime types, some of the effects look strikingly similar. Using survey data from the Afrobarometer and measures of censorship from Varieties of Democracy, this article suggests that trust in executive and legislative institutions among regime supporters is increased, when autocracies engage in cultural censorship. Additionally, this article argues that trust in the ruling party increases and trust in the opposition party decreases with more cultural censorship in both autocracies and democracies. Taken together this descriptive initial test of the theory, consistent with the theory presented, offers additional insights about how authoritarian regimes might use cultural censorship to maintain system support, but also suggest reasons why even democratic regimes can be motivated to engage in censorship for political gain.

Available at ASQ

Grenier Kelly. “Film, Literature, and Visual Art as Case Studies in Introductory Courses,” Relationship-Rich Education in Teaching & Learning: Proceedings of the 2022 Pedagogicon, Edited by Vanessa Gonzalez

ABSTRACT: This article explores the usage of art in the college classroom to teach political theories and concepts. Rethinking how instructors can teach introductory political science courses to students socialized in a contentious political culture, this paper argues that art-based assignments in lieu of traditional case studies are well-suited to this challenge. Offering examples from an introductory political science course, this paper demonstrates the approach in action and offers suggestions to apply this approach in other disciplines and institutional settings.

Available at Relationship-Rich Education in Teaching & Learning

Grenier, Kelly. “Operation Nudge: How Non-Sovereign Organizations Gain Quasi-Sovereign Powers to Solve Public Choice Problems.” The Commonwealth Review 3, no. 1 (2015): 91-101.

ABSTRACT: This article examines how non-sovereign organizations acquire and exercise quasi-sovereign powers to address collective action and public choice problems typically reserved for states. Focusing on the mechanisms of “nudging,” or liberal paternalism, it argues that organizations outside formal government structures can influence individual decision-making and social outcomes in ways that mimic sovereign authority, without possessing traditional coercive powers. Through theoretical analysis and illustrative cases, the article shows how these actors leverage legitimacy, expertise, and behavioral economics to implement policies that guide collective behavior, often filling governance gaps left by state institutions. By reframing the boundaries of sovereignty, the study highlights both the promise and perils of delegating quasi-sovereign authority to non-state entities, raising critical questions about accountability, legitimacy, and democratic oversight.

Invited Chapter

Grenier, Kelly. “Chile’s Nueva Canción & the Pinochet Regime: Censoring Political Messages in Music.” In Political Messaging in Music and Entertainment Spaces across the Globe, edited by Uche Onyebadi, 253-278. Wilmington: Vernon Press 2021

ABSTRACT: How does music gain political power, under what circumstances are regimes motivated to censor political music, and what are the consequences of that censorship? This chapter explores these three questions using archived interviews and lyrics from artists who were a part of Chile’s Nueva Canción movement, tracing the history of the movement’s development, censorship, and subsequent evolution. To explore the process of music becoming explicitly political, this chapter begins with the work of Violeta Parra and traces Nueva Canción’s development from its origins until the democratically elected regime of Salvador Allende. This chapter then offers evidence that the censorship from the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet that deposed Allende could have been motivated by both the fact that songs from this movement appeared to critique the regime, and because they called for collective action.  I argue that music, along with other forms of art, is distinctive in its ability to blend these common sources of threat to political regimes: criticism and collective action. Finally, the chapter discusses the fact that even as Nueva Canción musicians endured censorship, imprisonment, and exile, they continued to pursue their art, modifying it to persist and prevail in the face of a brutal dictatorship and, in some cases, continuing to challenge the regime openly.

Available at Vernon Press and Amazon

Under Review

Grenier, Kelly and Ana Sampaio “A Liberal New Republic, Not Libertine: Citizen Supported Censorship in Brazil.”

ABSTRACT: When do citizens support repression? Previous literature on regime survival and strategic repression has paid insufficient attention to the role of citizen demand in the calculus of censorship. Using a multi-method approach, this paper analyzes a series of letters written to the Public Entertainment Censorship Division in Brazil from citizens, citizen groups, and local officials during Brazil’s transition to a democratic government (1985-1988). Leveraging this original dataset, this paper explores the variety of arguments being made in support of cultural censorship finding that citizens support a centralized institution limiting the arts and entertainment to protect third-persons and the dominant societal values. This finding has important implications for the study of censorship and repression because it suggests that all regimes may censor the culture available to and of individuals if it is demanded by a proportion of citizens.