Max Bradley

Max Bradley

PhD Researcher, European University Institute
About

I am a PhD Researcher in Political and Social Sciences at the European University Institute (EUI). My research sits at the intersection of political economy and political behaviour. In my doctoral work, I study the politics of the green transition, focusing on how different actors respond to and are shaped by decarbonization policies. I emphasize the role of economic geography, human capital, and education in shaping these dynamics. More broadly, my work connects the literatures on distributive conflict, climate politics, and comparative political economy. Methodologically, I employ causal inference techniques with observational data, field and survey experiments, and qualitative interviews.

During my doctoral studies, I was a Junior Visiting Scholar at Nuffield College, University of Oxford, and served as a co-organizer of the Political Behavior Colloquium (PBC) at the EUI (2023–24). I hold an MSc in Political Science from Leiden University and a BA in Economics from Trinity College Dublin.

Publications

Peer-Reviewed Articles

The Ethnic Origins of Affective Polarization: Statistical Evidence from Cross-National Data (with Simon Chauchard).
Frontiers in Political Science, 4, 920615 (2022). Journal link

Job Market Paper

Adapt or Perish: How the Spatial Distribution of Human Capital Shapes the Economic and Political Effects of the Green Transition. Link

Revise & Resubmit

Mass Attitudes towards Russia’s Aggression against Ukraine: It Is Not the Economy (with Filip Kostelka, Martín Alberdi, Toine Fiselier, Alexandra Jabbour, Nahla Mansour, Eleonora Minaeva, Silvia Porciuleanue, and Diana Rafailova).
European Journal of Political Research, Revise & Resubmit (2025).

Abstract
This paper studies variation in mass attitudes towards the Russo-Ukrainian War. Although most Europeans express dismay at Russia's aggression against Ukraine, more ambivalent or even pro-Kremlin positions are not rare. Drawing on the literature on foreign policy and wars, we hypothesize that support for the aggressor may reflect a quartet of factors: economic interests, ideological preferences, political cues, and disinformation. We probe the role of these factors using an original survey conducted in five countries (Czechia, France, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia) and spanning over 12,000 respondents. The results of three types of analyses reveal that neutral and pro-Kremlin positions, supported by significant segments of European society, are minimally related to economic interests. They are most strongly tied to political cues, followed by disinformation and ideology. These findings carry important implications for containing Russia's influence over Europe's public opinion and contribute to the literature on public preference formation in the field of foreign policy.

Educational Policies Can Strengthen Climate Coalitions (with Rens Chazottes, Susanna Garside, and Nina Lopez-Uroz).
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Revise & Resubmit (2026).

Abstract
Building public support for ambitious climate policies is a central challenge for governments seeking to decarbonize their economies. Many climate change mitigation policies pose visible material costs on citizens, and governments have limited fiscal capacity to deploy compensatory measures. Education is often used as a tool to build public awareness about climate change, but its effect on support for climate policies is not well understood. We evaluate the effects of a climate education policy through the study of a real-world large-scale educational intervention: a three-hour interactive workshop which has so far been implemented in over 500 French universities. We employed a randomized control trial reaching 1,845 students across 167 workshops. Students who took the workshop expressed 7 percentage points higher support for costly climate policies, including a beef tax, short-haul flight ban, and meat-free university canteen, compared with the control group. The workshop increased beliefs in the effectiveness of these policies and elicited more positive emotions about climate action. Evidence from a sub-sample of follow-up survey respondents suggests these effects may persist for at least six weeks. We find no evidence that the workshop increases willingness to donate to a climate NGO. Overall, the results suggest that well-designed climate education can play a role in broadening public coalitions for ambitious climate policies by strengthening perceived policy effectiveness and support for costly policies.

Under Review

Cost, Risk, and Threat: The Material & Contextual Factors Driving Climate Policy Preferences.

Working Papers

Flood Insurance and Risk Socialization (with Martín Alberdi, Alexandra Jabbour, and Filip Kostelka).

Taking Out the Trash: Political Implications of Door-to-Door Waste Management in Catalonia (with Cèlia Estruch-Garcia and Pau Grau).

Reducing Gender-Based Polarization: A Field Study in UK Schools (with Henri Pozsar, Marica Miglio, Beth Ginsburg, and Simon Hix).

A Broken Union? Cohesion, Legitimacy, and the Political Consequences of Collective Action (with Diane Bolet).

Teaching & Pedagogical Development
Theory of Decarbonization diagram

Together with Jeff Colgan at Brown University’s Climate Syllabus Bank, I recently designed an approach for teaching the political economy of decarbonization which emphasizes the different theories of change underlying climate action.

Our project introduces a framework that emphasizes different Theories of Decarbonization (see above image) which helps instructors: a) build structured and balanced syllabi, b) map existing theories of change (e.g., Kyoto, Carbon Taxes, Green New Deal), and c) develop hands-on exercises where students trace their own theory of change.

The framework is presented in our short explainer video and detailed in a companion working paper that reviews the literature on the political economy of decarbonization and offers practical guidance for instructors.

News

The first paper of my dissertation was recently awarded the Ireland Thinks Best Paper Prize, which is awarded annually to the best paper delivered by an early-career researcher at the Political Science Association of Ireland (PSAI) Conference.

Read more here.