University autonomy under democratic backsliding: a case study of a plagiarism investigation against Serbian Minister of Finance (2014–2019)

Abstract Scholars have documented a tendency of (semi-)authoritarian regimes to undermine university autonomy, mainly through organizational (de jure) changes. This paper presents case study publicly triggered plagiarism investigation by the University Belgrade into doctoral thesis Serbian Minister Finance, one key members increasingly authoritarian regime. The analysis finds proceduralized and delayed response university’s leadership, which indicates lowered de facto autonomy from politics, despite continually high jure autonomy. was closed only after mobilization within academic community resulted in blockade that forced its leadership retract contentious thesis. shows that, contexts democratic backsliding, political capture can extend farther than usually thought, impacting even implementation internal standards. On other hand, also is not necessarily irreversible mobilize ‘undo’ it. reinforces notion communities as value-driven groups capable exerting peer pressure override pressures. In order understand dynamic inquiry entirety, we apply insights theory power complement overcome limitations conventional theoretical frameworks on backsliding