Rallying around the EU Flag: Russia's Invasion of Ukraine and Attitudes toward European Integration

Nils Steiner, Ruxanda Berlinschi, Etienne Farvaque, Jan Fidrmuc, Philipp Harms, Alexander Mihailov (a.mihailov@reading.ac.uk), Michael Neugart and Piotr Stanek

No 9883, CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo

Abstract: This paper uses a survey among students at European universities to explore whether Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has affected attitudes toward European integration. Some respondents completed the survey just before Russia’s assault on February 24, 2022, and some did so just afterwards, thus delivering a quasi-experimental design situation, which we exploit. Our results suggest that the ominous news about the Russian attack increased the participants’ interest in EU politics, consolidated their attachment to the EU, and made them more mindful and appreciative of the benefits of deeper European integration. In effect, the war so close to the EU Eastern border provoked a rally around the supranational EU flag, with convergence of public opinion toward shared European values.

Keywords: European integration; EU attitudes; external threat; rally around the flag; Ukraine; Russia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F02 F50 H77 N44 Z18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cis and nep-tra
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Rallying around the EU flag: Russia's invasion of Ukraine and attitudes toward European integration (2024)
Journal Article: Rallying around the EU flag: Russia's invasion of Ukraine and attitudes toward European integration (2023)
Working Paper: Rallying around the EU flag: Russia's invasion of Ukraine and attitudes toward European integration (2022)
Working Paper: Rallying around the EU flag: Russia's invasion of Ukraine and attitudes toward European integration (2022)
Working Paper: Rallying around the EU flag: Russia's invasion of Ukraine and attitudes toward European integration (2022)
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