How the Salience of Corruption vs Conflict Influence Attitudes Towards the State

• In Event: Public Attitudes and Political Behavior in Times of Conflict

Abstract

Armed conflict can profoundly impact public attitudes toward the state. National defense is among the core duties of any government. At times of war, many citizens tend to rally-around-the-flag and profess support for their government. But what if this same government is widely perceived to be corrupt and unaccountable? We answer this question with a field survey experiment in Eastern Ukraine in 2017, which randomly assigns respondents to one of three treatments: 1) a placebo, or treatments that emphasize 2) the threat posed by corruption, or 3) the threat posed by Russian-backed separatists in the Donbas. We find, counterintuitively, that reminders about corruption generate more pro-government attitudes -- decreasing expressed support for the Russian army, and increasing support for sending more troops to the Donbas. In contrast, reminding respondents about the conflict in Donbas has the opposite effect, decreasing support for the state. We attribute this result to citizens' viewing fighting corruption and fighting Russian influence in Ukraine as intertwined.

Authors

• Alexander Kupatadze, Kings College London

• Thomas Zeitzoff, American University

• Yuri M. Zhukov, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor