Do Wars Abroad Affect Attitudes at Home?

TY - JOUR

T1 - Do Wars Abroad Affect Attitudes at Home?

AU - Klymak, Margaryta

AU - Vlandas, Tim

PY - 2024/6/21

Y1 - 2024/6/21

N2 - Can foreign conflicts affect attitudes in non-belligerent countries? A large literature studies the effects of conflicts and wars on countries that are directly involved, without considering the potential consequences for other non-belligerent countries that might nevertheless be threatened. To address this question, we examine how the Russian invasion of Ukraine affected twelve economic and political attitudes using survey data covering eight European countries. We use a natural experiment whereby the timing of the invasion overlapped with the fieldwork of a cross-national individual-level survey in these eight countries. We find that the war increased support for democracy, redistribution, support for Europe, and immigration, while it reduced authoritarian attitudes. Our findings highlight the impact of foreign conflicts on a wide range of attitudes in countries that are externally threatened, but neither directly involved militarily, nor necessarily very close to the conflict.

AB - Can foreign conflicts affect attitudes in non-belligerent countries? A large literature studies the effects of conflicts and wars on countries that are directly involved, without considering the potential consequences for other non-belligerent countries that might nevertheless be threatened. To address this question, we examine how the Russian invasion of Ukraine affected twelve economic and political attitudes using survey data covering eight European countries. We use a natural experiment whereby the timing of the invasion overlapped with the fieldwork of a cross-national individual-level survey in these eight countries. We find that the war increased support for democracy, redistribution, support for Europe, and immigration, while it reduced authoritarian attitudes. Our findings highlight the impact of foreign conflicts on a wide range of attitudes in countries that are externally threatened, but neither directly involved militarily, nor necessarily very close to the conflict.

M3 - Article

SN - 2752-6542

JO - PNAS Nexus

JF - PNAS Nexus

ER -