War and the Willingness to Resist and Fight in Ukraine

Abstract

This study explores the effects of Russia's use of military force on the Ukrainian willingness to fight and resist. We find assumptions from the theoretical literature on the willingness to fight of limited relevance. Instead, our analysis suggests that Ukrainian willingness to fight and resist correlates with (1) a growth in Ukrainian civic nationalism; (2) an increase in trust in Ukrainian political institutions, particularly the Ukrainian armed forces; and (3) a spread of the impressions that Ukraine is not alone in its struggle. We find little difference based on region and gender, but some on education and income.