The Russian threat and the consolidation of the West: How populism and EU-skepticism shape party support for Ukraine

2024/03/18 by Liesbet Hooghe, Gary Marks, Ryan Bakker +5 · 1 voice · 7 citations
Social Sciences · #European Union Policy and Governance #Populism, Right-Wing Movements #Sociopolitical Dynamics in Russia

paper · pdf · doi:10.1177/14651165241237136

openalex publication_date 2024/03/18 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30

Abstract

Support for Ukraine against Russian aggression has been strong across Europe, but it is far from uniform. An expert survey of the positions taken by political parties in 29 countries conducted mid-2023 reveals that 97 of 269 parties reject one or more of the following: providing weapons, hosting refugees, supporting Ukraine's path to European Union membership, or accepting higher energy costs. Where the perceived threat from Russia is most severe, we find the greatest levels of support for Ukraine. However, ideology appears to be far more influential. The level of a party's populist rhetoric and its European Union skepticism explain the bulk of variation in support for Ukraine despite our finding that many strongly populist and European Union-skeptical parties take moderate pro-Ukraine positions when in government.

Citations

• Varieties of Radicalism: Examining the Diversity of Radical Left Parties and Voters in Western Europe
• A Postfunctionalist Theory of European Integration: From Permissive Consensus to Constraining Dissensus
• Exclusionary vs. Inclusionary Populism: Comparing Contemporary Europe and Latin America
• Estimating Dynamic State Preferences from United Nations Voting Data
• Chapel Hill Expert Survey trend file, 1999–2019
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Discussions

• Check out the latest from the @chesdata.bsky.social Europe team: doi.org/10.1177/1465... Using expert data on party positions, we argue that perceived threat and ideology explains party positions on [bsky, 5 points, 0 comments]

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