Is It Right to Fight? Evidence from Russia and Ukraine

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.