On May 28 ISET hosted a Research Seminar featuring Associate Professor at the Stockholm School of Economics and Deputy Director of the Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics, Prof. Anders Olofsgård.
He presented his research titled “Exposure to Violence and Prosocial Attitudes in War-torn Ukraine”. The presentation focused on how living through war affects people – whether it increases cooperation and social engagement or destroys trust and fractures communities.
The answer, it turns out, is not straightforward. The empirical literature finds that conflict exposure tends to increase cooperation and political participation, but mainly within tightly defined in-groups. Trust toward outsiders – including foreign allies – can actually decline. For Ukraine, this has direct implications: how does daily exposure to violence shape public support for EU accession? How does it affect attitudes toward Western institutions at a moment when U.S. and European commitments are being questioned?
The seminar concluded with a discussion on how empirical research can shed light on complex social and political dynamics in conflict-affected settings.
