Effects of Russian Invasion of Ukraine on Authoritarian Values

In this paper, I examine how the Russian invasion of Ukraine has influenced the expression of authoritarian values among Europeans in the short term. Using the tenth round of the European Social Survey, which was already underway in 11 countries at the time of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, I use an unexpected event during survey design to estimate the impact of the invasion on 3 distinct dimensions of authoritarian values: authoritarian aggression, submission, and conventionalism. The results of this analysis reveal that the invasion only had a positive and marginally significant effect on authoritarian submission in Spain, and a negative and significant effect on submission in Poland. The security dilemma prompted by the invasion of a neighboring country did not activate authoritarian values broadly across Europe, but findings from this study suggest a need to study authoritarian values in Spain and Poland further, as well as citizen reactions to the Russian invasion in both.