Is It Right to Fight? Evidence from Russia and Ukraine

Mohammad Reza Farzanegan; Sven Fischer

doi:10.1515/peps-2022-0011

Article

Is It Right to Fight? Evidence from Russia and Ukraine

Published/Copyright: October 13, 2022

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From the journal Peace Economics, Peace Science and Public Policy Volume 28 Issue 4

Abstract

We study the acceptability of war under certain conditions across individuals from Russia and Ukraine on the basis of World Values Survey in 2011. The period of analysis is before the beginning of military confrontations between the two countries (which started with the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in 2014). We discuss which socio-economic, political and individual characteristics shape the justification of war under certain conditions. Overall, the acceptance of war is relatively low in both countries. Using logistic regressions, we found that there are characteristics that significantly reduce the justification of war in both countries, such as gender and level of happiness. Support in both countries is also significantly larger among respondents who are interested in politics and are married. Additionally, there are conditions which produce different results between the countries, such as religiosity, country aims, employment, confidence in the government, concern over possible war and political orientation.

Keywords: conflict; violence; domestic politics; international security; Russia; Ukraine; justice; world value survey

JEL Classification: C35; D74; F51; F52; H56

Corresponding author: Mohammad Reza Farzanegan, Center for Near and Middle Eastern Studies (CNMS), Economics of the Middle East Research Group, School of Business and Economics, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Marburg, Germany, E-mail: farzanegan@uni-marburg.de

Acknowledgments

The authors appreciate Raul Caruso (Editor), and two anonymous referees for their comments and suggestions. Research assistance of Jhoana Ocampo is acknowledged.

Appendix A

Table A1:

Summary statistics: Sample of Russia.

Variable	Obs.	Mean	Std. dev.	Max
Acceptance of war (Is war sometimes necessary to obtain justice?)	1622	0.28	0.45	1
Age 15–24 (reference group)	1622	0.12	0.33	1
Age 25–34	1622	0.20	0.40	1
Age 35–44	1622	0.16	0.37	1
Age 45–54	1622	0.18	0.39	1
Age 55–64	1622	0.18	0.38	1
Age 65 plus	1622	0.16	0.37	1
University education	1622	0.33	0.47	1
Religion important	1622	0.45	0.50	1
Happiness	1622	0.77	0.42	1
Married	1622	0.57	0.49	1
Choice democracy	1622	0.17	0.37	1
Choice high growth	1622	0.70	0.46	1
Choice environment	1622	0.04	0.19	1
Interested in politics	1622	0.37	0.48	1
Ideology: left	1622	0.17	0.37	1
Ideology: right	1622	0.19	0.40	1
Unemployed	1622	0.38	0.49	1
Female	1622	0.56	0.50	1
Worries: war	1622	0.73	0.45	1
Confidence: government	1622	0.49	0.50	1

Table A2:

Summary statistics: Sample of Ukraine.

Variable	Obs.	Mean	Std. dev.	Max
Acceptance of war (Is war sometimes necessary to obtain justice?)	1366	0.10	0.30	1
Age 15–24 (reference group)	1366	0.12	0.33	1
Age 25–34	1366	0.20	0.40	1
Age 35–44	1366	0.15	0.36	1
Age 45–54	1366	0.17	0.38	1
Age 55–64	1366	0.17	0.38	1
Age 65 plus	1366	0.19	0.39	1
University education	1366	0.34	0.47	1
Religion important	1366	0.63	0.48	1
Happiness	1366	0.72	0.45	1
Married	1366	0.57	0.49	1
Choice democracy	1366	0.16	0.37	1
Choice high growth	1366	0.76	0.43	1
Choice environment	1366	0.04	0.20	1
Interested in politics	1366	0.35	0.48	1
Ideology: left	1366	0.18	0.38	1
Ideology: right	1366	0.21	0.41	1
Unemployed	1366	0.48	0.50	1
Female	1366	0.60	0.49	1
Worries: war	1366	0.70	0.46	1
Confidence: government	1366	0.25	0.43	1

Reported summary statistics are for those observations which are used in the regression analysis of Table 2.

Table A3:

Frequencies of responses of the selected questions.

		Russia frequency	Percent	Ukraine frequency	Percent
Acceptance of war (Is war sometimes necessary to obtain justice?)	Disagree	1619	64.76	1345	89.67
	Agree	565	22.6	155	10.33
	Missing	316	12.64	0	0
	Total	2500	100	1500	100
Age	15–24	300	12	177	11.8
	25–34	489	19.56	290	19.33
	35–44	406	16.24	223	14.87
	45–54	461	18.44	253	16.87
	55–64	431	17.24	253	16.87
	65+	413	16.52	304	20.27
	Total	2500	100	1500	100
University education	Disagree	1709	68.36	992	66.13
	Agree	779	31.16	508	33.87
	Missing	12	0.48	0	0
	Total	2500	100	1500	100
Religion important	Disagree	1309	52.36	559	37.27
	Agree	1055	42.2	941	62.73
	Missing	136	5.44	0	0
	Total	2500	100	1500	100
Happiness	Disagree	575	23	409	27.27
	Agree	1820	72.8	1017	67.8
	Missing	105	4.2	74	4.93
	Total	2500	100	1500	100
Married	Disagree	1108	44.32	650	43.33
	Agree	1377	55.08	850	56.67
	Missing	15	0.6	0	0
	Total	2500	100	1500	100
Country’s priorities	Democracy	401	16.04	235	15.67
	High growth	1697	67.88	1157	77.13
	Environment	91	3.64	65	4.33
	Strong defense	251	10.04	43	2.87
	Missing	60	2.4	0	0
	Total	2500	100	1500	100
Interested in politics	Disagree	1628	65.12	990	66
	Agree	820	32.8	510	34
	Missing	52	2.08	0	0
	Total	2500	100	1500	100
Ideology	Left	343	13.72	263	17.53
	Center	1543	61.72	922	61.47
	Right	400	16	315	21
	Missing	214	8.56	0	0
	Total	2500	100	1500	100
Unemployed	Disagree	1498	59.92	767	51.13
	Agree	970	38.8	733	48.87
	Missing	32	1.28	0	0
	Total	2500	100	1500	100
Gender	Male	1115	44.6	600	40
	Female	1385	55.4	900	60
	Total	2500	100	1500	100
Worries: war	Disagree	737	29.48	438	29.2
	Agree	1669	66.76	998	66.53
	Missing	94	3.76	64	4.27
	Total	2500	100	1500	100
Confidence: government	Disagree	1190	47.6	1127	75.13
	Agree	1172	46.88	373	24.87
	Missing	138	5.52	0	0
	Total	2500	100	1500	100

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Received: 2022-05-04

Accepted: 2022-10-03

Published Online: 2022-10-13

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Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/peps-2022-0011

Keywords for this article

conflict; violence; domestic politics; international security; Russia; Ukraine; justice; world value survey