After more than three years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, international support for Ukraine is coming under increasing attack, even as it is more important than ever to safeguard Ukraine’s independence and sovereignty. 

This paper builds on two waves of online public opinion surveys in eight countries bordering Ukraine and/or Russia (Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Moldova, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan) to analyze the drivers of popular attitudes towards the war among citizens of neighboring countries, and identify the factors that may counter the growing war fatigue and the barrage of misinformation and propaganda from Russia (and increasingly from Western politicians). We also present the results of a pre-registered survey experiment, in which respondents were selectively exposed to an empathy induction prompt that encouraged them to reflect on the challenges of daily life in war-time Ukraine, and tests the impact of this empathy treatment on different dimensions of support for Ukraine.

Speaker: Grigore Pop-Eleches

I am a Professor of Politics and International Affairs at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs and the Politics Department at Princeton University. I joined the Princeton faculty in 2003 after receiving my PhD in Political Science from UC Berkeley. I am co-director of the Princeton Workshop on Post-Communist Politics(Link is external).

My main current research interests are in comparative political behavior with a focus on authoritarian and post-authoritarian regimes (largely in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union). I have also worked on comparative and international political economy of Eastern Europe and Latin America, and on democratization and democratic backsliding, with a focus on the role of electoral behavior and political parties.

My first book, entitled "From Economic Crisis to Reform: IMF Programs in Latin America and Eastern Europe" was published by Princeton University Press in February 2009. My second book, "Communism's Shadow: Historical Legacies and Contemporary Political Attitudes" (joint with Joshua A. Tucker), was published in 2017 by Princeton University Press. My work has also appeared in a variety of academic journals, including The American Journal of Political Science, The Journal of Politics, World Politics, Comparative Political Studies, Comparative Politics, Quarterly Journal of Political Science, International Studies Quarterly, Journal of Democracy, Studies in Comparative International Development, and East European Politics and Societies.

REDS: RETHINKING EUROPEAN DEVELOPMENT AND SECURITY

The REDS Seminar Series aims to deepen the research agenda on the new challenges facing Europe, especially on its eastern flank, and to build intellectual and institutional bridges across Stanford University, fostering interdisciplinary approaches to current global challenges.

REDS is organized by The Europe Center and the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law, and co-sponsored by the Hoover Institution and the Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies.

Learn more about REDS and view past seminars here.

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