Welfare over Warfare? Russia s War on Ukraine through the Prism of Europe s Energy Security

Mariusz Baranowski
Additional contact information
Mariusz Baranowski: Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Szamarzewskiego 89C, 60-658 Poznan, Poland.

International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, 2022, vol. 12, issue 5, 226-231

Abstract: The outbreak of war by the Russian Federation in Ukraine on 24 February 2022 not only took world public opinion and politicians by surprise but, above all, demonstrated in all its glory the strong network of political and economic ties in Europe and far beyond the old continent. The attitudes of individual governments and entire societies, particularly in Europe, towards Russian aggression, differ fundamentally. These differences can most simply be explained in terms of economic and political dependence on Russian gas or proximity to the Russian Federation or its dependent countries like Belarus, which mark sharp dividing axes. In this paper, using a survey commissioned by the European Council on Foreign Relations in ten European countries as an example, I will highlight public attitudes towards the war in Ukraine and their potential impact on the policies of individual governments. The interventionist viewpoint presented in this article suggests that general welfare shapes not only public attitudes towards the war but also impregnates specific governmental positions. In the context of the large European economies, this could significantly yet negatively impact Ukraine's financial and military support in the coming months.

Keywords: war in Ukraine; social welfare; energy security; European countries; dependence on gas supply; public opinion (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A14 H12 H53 H56 I31 L71 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.econjournals.com/index.php/ijeep/article/download/13415/6920 (application/pdf)
https://www.econjournals.com/index.php/ijeep/article/view/13415 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eco:journ2:2022-05-27

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy is currently edited by Ilhan Ozturk

More articles in International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy from Econjournals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Ilhan Ozturk ().