How is service history associated with returning veterans' attitudes about democracy? Existing research predicts pro-government militia veterans have less support for democracy because of political efficacy gained from service and divergent policy preferences from the general population. We test that theory in Ukraine through surveys of both returning veterans and the general population between 2019 and 2022. Our findings differ from predictions. Veterans who joined the armed forces as volunteers were more supportive of democracy as an institution than ordinary Ukrainians. At the same time, Army volunteers, as well as veterans who were drafted into the armed forces and veterans who were rejected from the armed forces and joined pro-government militias were more likely to be dissatisfied with democracy. In-depth interviews reveal both those rejected from the armed forces and army conscripts opposed democracy because they felt rampant draft evasion made civilians unqualified to make political decisions.
AliyevHuseyn. 2016. “Strong Militias, Weak States and Armed Violence: Towards a Theory of ‘state-Parallel’paramilitaries.” Security Dialogue47 (6): 498-516.
6.
AliyevHuseyn. 2021. “When Neighborhood Goes to War. Exploring the Effect of Belonging on Violent Mobilization in Ukraine.” Eurasian Geography and Economics62 (1): 21-45.
7.
AmnåErikMunckIngridZetterbergPär. 2004. Meaningful Participation? Political Efficacy of Adolescents in 24 Countries. Uppsala: European Consortium of Political Research Joint Sessions.
8.
BeissingerMark R.2013. “The Semblance of Democratic Revolution: Coalitions in Ukraine’s Orange Revolution.” American Political Science Review107 (3): 574-592.
9.
BesselRichard. 1993. Germany after the First World War. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
BiersackJohnO’learShannon. 2014. “The Geopolitics of Russia’s Annexation of Crimea: Narratives, Identity, Silences, and Energy.” Eurasian Geography and Economics55 (3): 247-269.
12.
BishinBenjamin GIncantalupoMatthew B. (2008). From Bullets to Ballots? The Role of Veterans in Contemporary Elections. Unpublished Working Paper.
13.
BlattmanChristopher. 2009. “From Violence to Voting: War and Political Participation in Uganda.” American Political Science Review103 (2): 231–247.
14.
BrooksRisaGrewalSharan. 2022. ““Twice the Citizen”: How Military Attitudes of Superiority Undermine Civilian Control in the United States.” Journal of Conflict Resolution66 (4–5): 623–650.
15.
BrooksRisa ARobinsonMichael A.UrbenHeidi A.. 2022. “What Makes a Military Professional? Evaluating Norm Socialization in West Point Cadets.” Armed Forces & Society48 (4): 803-827.
16.
BryantSusanSwaneyBrettUrbenHeidi. 2021. “From Citizen Soldier to Secular Saint: The Societal Implications of Military Exceptionalism (Spring 2021).” Texas National Security Review4 (2): 9–24.
17.
BustikovaLenka. 2015. “Voting, Identity and Security Threats in Ukraine: Who Supports the Radical “Freedom” Party?” Communist and Post-Communist Studies48 (2-3): 239-256.
18.
CareySabine C.MitchellNeil J.. 2017. “Progovernment Militias.” Annual Review of Political Science20: 127-147.
19.
CarnesNicholas. 2018. The Cash Ceiling: Why Only the Rich Run for Office–And what We Can Do about it, Vol. 16. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
20.
ChoulisIoannis. 2022. “I Want You. Or Not? The Effect of Conscription on Coup Risk in Anocracies.” International Politics59 (6): 1187-1209.
21.
ClausenBiancaKraayAartNyiriZsolt. 2011. “Corruption and Confidence in Public Institutions: Evidence from a Global Survey.” The World Bank Economic Review25 (2): 212-249.
22.
ClaytonGovindaThomsonAndrew. 2016. “Civilianizing Civil Conflict: Civilian Defense Militias and the Logic of Violence in Intrastate Conflict.” International Studies Perspectives60 (3): 499-510.
23.
DempseyJason K.2010. Our Army: Soldiers, Politics, and American Civil-Military Relations. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
DiukNadia. 2014. “Euromaidan: Ukraine’s Self-Organizing Revolution.” World Affairs176 (6): 9-16.
26.
DowdleAndrew J.2007. “Civil Wars, International Conflicts and Other Determinants of Paramilitary Strength in Sub-saharan Africa.” Small Wars and Insurgencies18 (2): 161-174.
27.
EastinJoshuaZechSteven T.. 2019. “Joining the Counterinsurgency: Explaining Pro-Government Militia Participation in the Philippines.” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism45: 1-25.
28.
EstanconaChelseaBirdLuciaHinkkainenKaisaBapatNavin. 2019. “Civilian Self-Defense Militias in Civil War.” International Interactions45 (2): 215-266.
29.
FeaverPeter DouglasKohnRichard H.. 2001. Soldiers and Civilians: The Civil-Military Gap and American National Security. Cambridge, MA: Mit Press.
30.
FreedmanLawrenceMichaelsJeffrey. 2019. “Soviet Strategy after Stalin.” In The Evolution of Nuclear Strategy: New, Updated and Completely Revised, edited by FreedmanL.MichaelsJ., 179–192. London, UK: Palgrave MacMillan.
31.
GasiorowskiMark J.1995. “Economic Crisis and Political Regime Change: An Event History Analysis.” American Political Science Review89 (4): 882-897.
32.
GrossmanGuyManekinDevorahMiodownikDan. 2015. “The Political Legacies of Combat: Attitudes toward War and Peace Among Israeli Ex-Combatants.” International Organization69 (4): 981-1009.
33.
HetheringtonMarc J.RudolphThomas J.. 2008. “Priming, Performance, and the Dynamics of Political Trust.” The Journal of Politics70 (2): 498-512.
34.
HuntingtonSamuel P.1957. The Soldier and the State. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
35.
IngessonTonyLindbergMårtenLindvallJohannesTeorellJan. 2018. “The Martial Origins of Democracy: a Global Study of Military Conscription and Suffrage Extensions since the Napoleonic Wars.” Democratization25 (4): 633-651.
36.
InglehartRonaldWelzelChristian. 2005. Modernization, Cultural Change, and Democracy: The Human Development Sequence. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
37.
IshchenkoVolodymyr. 2016. “Far Right Participation in the Ukrainian Maidan Protests: an Attempt of Systematic Estimation.” European Politics and Society17 (4): 453-472.
38.
JamalAmaneyKodmaniBassmaShikakiKhalilTesslerMarkRobbinsMichael. 2017. “Codebook: Arab Democracy Barometer Wave IV 2016-2017.” Arab Barometerhttps://www.arabbarometer.org
39.
JanowitzMorris. 1960. The Professional Soldier: A Social and Political Portrait. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.
40.
KukhianidzeAlexandre. 2009. “Corruption and Organized Crime in Georgia before and after the ’Rose Revolution.” Central Asian Survey28 (2): 215-234.
41.
KuzioTaras. 2015. “Rise and Fall of the Party of Regions Political Machine.” Problems of Post-Communism62 (3): 174-186.
42.
LeggeJerome S.2008. “Support for Democracy by Veterans and Non-veterans in Early Post-War Germany.” Journal of Political and Military Sociology36 (1): 147.
43.
LuptonDanielle L.2017. “Out of the Service, into the House: Military Experience and Congressional War Oversight.” Political Research Quarterly70 (2): 327-339.
MitchellNeil J.CareySabine C.ButlerChristopher K.. 2014. “The Impact of Pro-government Militias on Human Rights Violations.” International Interactions40 (5): 812-836.
46.
MitrokhinNikolay. 2015. “Infiltration, Instruction, Invasion: Russia’s War in the Donbass.” Journal of Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society1 (1): 219-249.
47.
MuellerJohn. 2004. The Remnants of War. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
48.
MychajlyszynNatalie. 2002. “Civil-military Relations in Post-soviet Ukraine: Implications for Domestic and Regional Stability.” Armed Forces & Society28 (3): 455-479.
49.
NiemiRichard GCraigStephen CFrancoMattei. 1991. “Measuring Internal Political Efficacy in the 1988 National Election Study.” The American Political Science Review85: 1407-1413.
50.
ParkerChristopher S.2009. Fighting for Democracy: Black Veterans and the Struggle against White Supremacy in the Postwar South. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
51.
PeicGoran. 2014. “Civilian Defense Forces, State Capacity, and Government Victory in Counterinsurgency Wars.” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism37 (2): 162-184.
52.
PfaffenzellerStephan. 2010. “Conscription and Democracy: The Mythology of Civil—Military Relations.” Armed Forces & Society36 (3): 481-504.
53.
PrzeworskiAdamAlvarezMichael E.CheibubJose A.LimongiFernando. 2000. Democracy and Development: Political Institutions and Well-Being in the World, 1950-1990 (Cambridge Studies in the Theory of Democracy). 1 ed. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
54.
PuglisiRosaria. 2015. Heroes or Villains? Volunteer Battalions in Post-Maidan Ukraine. Instituto Affairi Internazionali.
ShekhovtsovAntonUmlandAndreas. 2014. “The Maidan and beyond: Ukraine’s Radical Right.” Journal of Democracy25 (3): 58-63.
57.
TeigenJeremy M.2006. “Enduring Effects of the Uniform: Previous Military Experience and Voting Turnout.” Political Research Quarterly59 (4): 601-607.
58.
TeigenJeremy M.2007. “Veterans’ Party Identification, Candidate Affect, and Vote Choice in the 2004 US Presidential Election.” Armed Forces & Society33 (3): 414-437.
59.
TezcürGüneş Murat. 2016. “Ordinary People, Extraordinary Risks: Participation in an Ethnic Rebellion.” American Political Science Review110 (2): 247-264.
60.
UmlandAndreas. 2019. “Irregular Militias and Radical Nationalism in Post-euromaydan Ukraine: The Prehistory and Emergence of the “Azov” Battalion in 2014.” Terrorism and Political Violence31 (1): 105-131.
61.
UmlandAndreasTarasiukTaras. 2021. Unexpected Friendships: Cooperation of Ukrainian Ultra-nationalists with Russian and Pro-Kremlin Actors. Illiberalism Studies Program Working Papers no. 8.
62.
UrbenHeidi. 2013. “Party, Politics and Deciding what Is Proper: Army Officers’ Attitudes after Two Long Wars.” Orbis57 (3): 351-368.
63.
ValgarðssonViktor OrriDevineDaniel. 2022. “What Satisfaction with Democracy? A Global Analysis of “Satisfaction with Democracy” Measures.” Political Research Quarterly75 (3): 576-590.
64.
VasicMilanSvarmFilip. 2001. “Paramilitary Formations in Serbia: 1990-2000. The Stink of Crimes.”In In the Triangle of State Power: Army, Police and Paramilitary, edited by H. C. for Human Rights in Serbia, 56-72. Belgrade: Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia. Helsinki Files No. 9.
65.
Vasquez IIIJoseph PaulPowellJonathan. 2021. “Institutional Arsenals for Democracy? the Postcoup Effects of Conscript Militaries.” Armed Forces & Society47 (2): 298-318.
WayLucan A.2005a. “Authoritarian State Building and the Sources of Regime Competitiveness in the Fourth Wave: The Cases of Belarus, Moldova, Russia, and Ukraine.” World Politics57 (2): 231-261.
ZaremboKateryna. 2017. “Substituting for the State: The Role of Volunteers in Defense Reform in Post-euromaidan Ukraine.” Kyiv-Mohyla Law and Politics Journal3: 49–70.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
