Shared Territorial Ownership Perception, Ingroup Superiority and Support for Peace and War: The Role of Comparative Victimhood Beliefs

ABSTRACT In conflicts with territorial claims, people have distinct perceptions and beliefs about the suffering of the ingroup compared to the outgroup(s). To this end, we examined whether shared territorial ownership perception, ingroup superiority and competitive and inclusive victimhood can be linked to support for peace and war. We investigated the mediating effects of competitive and inclusive victimhood beliefs in the links of shared territorial ownership perception and ingroup superiority with support for peace and war. In Study 1, we focused on post‐conflict Kosovo ( N Albanians = 415) and in Study 2 we focused on the Ukraine war ( N Russians = 132; N Ukrainians = 102). We found that, among Albanians and Ukrainians, shared territorial ownership perception and ingroup superiority were related to support for peace in opposite directions, mainly indirectly through inclusive victimhood. Shared territorial ownership perception and ingroup superiority were related to higher support for war among Russians. Furthermore, competitive victimhood was related to higher support for war among Russians and inclusive victimhood was related to higher support for peace among Albanians and Ukrainians. Our findings highlight the role of shared territorial ownership perception and inclusive victimhood in increasing support for peace. We also discuss potential reasons for non‐consistent findings among Albanians, Russians and Ukrainians.