Not a Monolith: The Diverse Views on Willingness to Fight for One’s Country among Latvian Russian-Speakers after the War in Ukraine

• In Event: Willingness to Defend One’s Country: the Baltic States and Taiwan in the Shadow of Two Hostile Neighbors

Abstract

Juris Pupcenoks, Marist College
Māris Andžāns, Riga Stradins University and Center for Geopolitical Studies Riga
Jennie Schulze, Duquesne University

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine demonstrates the importance of civilian resistance to armed aggression and has raised questions about the willingness of societies to defend the state in other countries. To what extent are ethno-linguistic divisions still important for explaining attitudes toward defense in states that have sizable ethnic minorities? This paper utilizes public opinion data in Latvia before and after Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine to show that while willingness to fight for one’s country has increased among the Russian-speakers in Latvia, their overall level of support still notably trails that of Latvian-speakers. For both linguistic groups, we find that pride in the Latvian state and higher incomes are linked to greater willingness to fight for Latvia. This finding runs contrary to Inglehart et. al (2015), who find that higher incomes are linked to less willingness to fight. Those who see life as better during the Soviet occupation are also less willing to fight for Latvia. However, Russians-speakers do not represent a cohesive group – and this paper outlines the diversity of views within this minority.

Authors

• Juris Pupcenoks, Marist College

• Māris Andžāns, Riga Stradiņš University, Center for Geopolitical Studies