The (Emotional) Drivers of European Citizens' Support for the EU’s Foreign Policy Measures

Abstract

Presenter: Cesare Figari Barberis, Leiden University In this article we investigate the (emotional) drivers for European citizens’ support for foreign policy (FP) measures taken by the EU in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. In particular, whether frames used by the EU trigger emotions—such as anger, fear, solidarity, sadness, pride, and hope. Moreover, to what extent these emotional frames increase support for the EU’s response to the war—such as the adoption of sanction packages against Russia; military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine; revitalization of the EU’s enlargement agenda; and European defense integration. To test these effects, we employ a survey experiment with three vignettes designed to mirror real EU narrative frames: identitarian arguments, emphasizing Ukraine as part of the EU family; moral arguments, emphasizing violations of international law and human rights; and pragmatic arguments, emphasizing economic and security reasons for sustaining Ukraine. Ther survey was launched in six European countries (France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, and Sweden). Preliminary results show that emotional frames do substantially trigger emotions across countries. However, only in certain cases do narrative frames, mediated by emotions, increase support for EU FP measures. In particular identitarian narrative—mediated by pride, hope and solidarity—increase support for FP measures in Sweden; while moral narratives—mediated by anger and solidarity—increase support for FP measures in Italy. The results lend mild support to the importance of emotional narratives to stimulate popular support for EU FP measures, while they highlight the difficulty of creating a single effective narrative across European countries.