This page provides an overview of the research projects currently active or recently completed in which I served as the primary investigator or co-investigator.
Currently, my research program is organized around three projects that collectively examine how national identity and belonging are shaped in democratic and democratizing societies.
Active Projects
I. Fairness or Threat? Understanding Sources of Immigration Backlash in Democracies
Duration: 12 months (2025-2026) · PI: Steven Denney (Leiden University) · Funding: Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) · Repo:
Overview
Immigration is one of the most contentious political issues in contemporary democracies, generating public backlash and policy instability. Explanations for immigration attitudes have traditionally emphasized two perspectives: group threat theory, which holds that dominant groups react defensively when immigration challenges cultural identity, national character, or established hierarchies; and economic competition theory, which views attitudes as shaped by perceived individual or national economic risks. Recent work introduces a third perspective: civic fairness, which claims that citizens assess immigration through moral principles of legal compliance and equal opportunity, potentially superseding both group-based concerns and economic calculations.
This project extends the civic fairness framework by testing whether perceptions of fairness override, complement, or contradict threat- and competition-based considerations across different democratic contexts. The project employs experimental surveys in the United States, Germany, South Korea, and Singapore.
Output
Forthcoming
II. Textbooks, Nation, and AI: Reconstructing Korean National Identity
Duration: 12 months (2026-2027) · PI: Steven Denney (Leiden University) · Collaborators: Aron van de Pol (Leiden University), Myunghee Lee (Michigan State University) · Funding: Academy of Korean Studies · Repo:
Overview
This project sits at the intersection of digital humanities and social science, using text analysis and survey methods to study how national identity is constructed and transmitted through education. Working with a corpus of South Korean national history textbooks spanning from 1948 through 2016, collected from the National Institute of Korean History and the Georg Eckert Institute, the project covers the post-liberation authoritarian regimes and the democratic era, each presenting different grand narratives of the Korean nation.
The project proceeds in two stages. First, we use AI-assisted text analysis to identify how the nation is narrated across different periods and what type of national identity is articulated in each era's textbooks. Second, we design a survey experiment that draws directly from these textbook-derived narratives, asking South Koreans to evaluate competing versions of the nation rather than respond to abstract hypotheticals. This design allows us to test whether individuals favor the version of the nation that reflects what they learned during their school years, as theories of long-run political socialization would predict.
Output
Papers in Progress
"Constructing the Nation: Identity and Historical Narratives in South Korean History Textbooks," with Aron van de Pol.
"Variations in Nation-Building: Sorting National History Education in Transitional Regimes," with Myunghee Lee and Aron van de Pol.
III. Nationalism and Political Change: Why Institutions Matter for National Identity and Belonging
Duration: 12 months (2024-25) · PI: Steven Denney (University of Vienna) · Funding: Academy of Korean Studies; University of Vienna
Overview
This project focuses on the relationship between political system change and preferences for national membership and belonging. Existing research suggests that preferences and institutions align and that citizens in democracies have national identities that are more open and inclusive than those in authoritarian countries, but it remains unclear how democratization affects national identity in newer democracies with authoritarian and ethnocultural legacies.
The project utilizes cross-sectional data that measures attitudes toward national identity, immigration, diversity, and related variables in (South) Korea, Germany, and Taiwan, supplemented by new survey experiments and other data sources.
Output
Books
Nationalism Under Democracy: Why Institutions Matter for National Identity and Belonging [in progress]
Peer-Reviewed Articles
Denney, S., & Green, C. (2024). Why do democratic societies tolerate undemocratic laws? Sorting public support for the National Security Act in South Korea. Democratization, 31(1), 113-131. https://doi.org/10.1080/13510347.2023.2258082
Working Papers
Denney, S., Steinhardt, H. C., & Bhowmick, L. Identity conformity and concealment in Taiwan and South Korea. [Under review] — Working paper
Denney, S., & Steinhardt, H. C. The boundaries of belonging: An experimental approach to national identity measurement in Taiwan and South Korea. [Under review] — Working paper
Denney, S., Fraser, N., & Steinhardt, H. C. Cues of commitment: Integration and naturalization support in South Korea and Taiwan. [Under review] — Working paper
Denney, S., van Dam, I., & Green, C. Persuasion and prejudice: Are South Korean attitudes toward immigration open to change? [Under review] — Working paper
Denney, S. Inference under constraint: The problem and potential of using North Korean (defector-)migrant surveys. [Preparing for submission] — Presentation
Papers in Progress
"The Resettlement of North Korean Migrants and Identity Change in Korea."
"A Generational Theory of National Identity Change: Propositions and Evidence."
2024. "Who Are 'We' and How Do We Know It? New Experimental Designs for Measuring National Identity," Consequences of Identity Politics Workshop, University of Southampton, July 24-25.
Integration Challenges and Opportunities in Divided Countries
Duration: 12 months (2024-25) · PI: Steven Denney (University of Vienna) · Funding: 2023 Overseas North Korea-Unification Policy Academic Research Support Grant; University of Vienna
Overview
This project explores the challenges and opportunities associated with the social integration of people in divided nations, concentrating specifically on Germany's reunification experience and the present-day assimilation of North Korean defector-migrants into South Korea.
Output
Peer-Reviewed Articles
Denney, S., & Ward, P. (2025). Welfare chauvinism in divided societies: The role of national identity in social policy preferences. Policy and Society. https://doi.org/10.1093/polsoc/puaf027
Denney, S., Zhou, T., & Brehm, R. (2025). From division to democracy: Integration of post-communist citizens in Germany and South Korea. Communist and Post-Communist Studies. https://doi.org/10.1525/cpcs.2025.2636997
Reports
2023. Integration Challenges and Opportunities in Divided Countries: A Comparative Analysis of Germany and South Korea, Institute for Far Eastern Studies (IFES), Kyungnam University. [embargoed]
Presentations
2025. "Persuasion and Prejudice: Are South Korean Attitudes toward Immigration Open to Change?," Recalibrating 'Skill' in Changing Immigration Regimes, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, January 16-17.
Collaboration: University of Toronto, University of Vienna, Toronto Metropolitan University, ISED Canada, others · Funding: Mitacs Accelerate; Treasury Board Secretariat of Canada; Facebook; Brookfield Institute
Overview
A collaborative effort exploring the landscape of high-performing firms, known as "scale-ups," and their impact on key policy objectives, such as employment gains, technological innovation, and economic competitiveness. Uses administrative micro-files linked to financial and survey data.
Output
Peer-Reviewed Articles
Denney, S., Wolfe, D., & Southin, T. (2023). Do winners pick government? How scale-up experience shapes entrepreneurs' assessments of innovation policy mixes. Science and Public Policy, 50, 858–870. https://doi.org/10.1093/scipol/scad030
Denney, S., Wolfe, D., & DiFrancesco, R. (2022). Localization of global networks: New mandates for MNEs in regional economies. Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, 15(2), 323-342. https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsac002
Working Papers
Denney, S., Kelly, R., & Wolfe, D. Innovation policy in practice: Assessing Canada's Business Innovation and Growth Support framework. [Under review] — Working paper
PIs: Steven Denney, Peter Ward · Funding: National Endowment for Democracy (2019-2021)
Overview
Identifies determinants of non-state information dissemination within North Korean society using experimental and observational surveys.
Output
Peer-Reviewed Articles
Denney, S., & Ward, P. (2023). How autocracies disrupt unsanctioned information flows: The role of state power and social capital in North Korea. Problems of Post-Communism, 71(2), 177-191. https://doi.org/10.1080/10758216.2023.2180038
Unification in Action? North Korean Migrant Integration and Support Expansion
PIs: Steven Denney, Christopher Green, Peter Ward · Funding: Academy of Korean Studies (AKS-2021-R-083)
Overview
Investigates public attitudes and public policies regarding migrant entrepreneurship and integration, leveraging the case of North Korean migrant resettlement in South Korea.
Output
Peer-Reviewed Articles
Denney, S., Ward, P., & Green, C. (2024). 한국인의 남북통일방식에 대한 의식 결정요인 분석 [Analyzing the determinants of South Korean attitudes toward Korean unification: A conjoint analysis, in Korean]. 국가전략, 30(1), 137-163. Link
Denney, S., & Green, C. (2024). Public attitudes towards co-ethnic migrant integration: Evidence from South Korea. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 50(8), 1998-2022. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2023.2286207
Denney, S., Ward, P., & Green, C. (2023). Public support for migrant entrepreneurship: The case of North Koreans in the Republic of Korea. International Migration Review. https://doi.org/10.1177/01979183231203927
Denney, S., & Ward, P. (2022). Welfare chauvinism among co-ethnics: Evidence from a conjoint experiment in South Korea. International Migration, 60(50), 74-90. https://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12937
Denney, S., & Green, C. (2021). North Korean patriotism: Assessing the success and failures of a nation. Korea Journal, 61(1), 154-185. https://doi.org/10.25024/kj.2021.61.1.154