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War and Social Attitudes: Revisiting Consensus Views

Author

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  • Travers Barclay Child

    (VU University Amsterdam and Tinbergen Institute, Netherlands)

  • Elena Nikolova

    (Central European Labor Studies Institute, Slovakia)

Abstract

We study the long-run effects of conflict on social attitudes, with World War II and Central and Eastern Europe as our setting. Earlier work has relied on self-reported measures of victimization, which are prone to endogenous misreporting. With our own survey-based measure, we replicate consensus findings linking victimization to increased political participation and civic engagement. Those findings collapse when tested instead with an objective measure of victimization based on historical reference material. Also, in a reversal of earlier short-run findings, we show that conflict breeds optimism in the long-run. Last, we shed doubt on another consensus by failing to provide evidence that conflict hinders trust.

Suggested Citation

  • Travers Barclay Child & Elena Nikolova, 2017. "War and Social Attitudes: Revisiting Consensus Views," HiCN Working Papers 258, Households in Conflict Network.
    • Handle: RePEc:hic:wpaper:258
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Intergenerational; conflict; attitudes; World War II;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D74 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Conflict; Conflict Resolution; Alliances; Revolutions
    • N44 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - Europe: 1913-
    • P20 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist and Transition Economies - - - General

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