Group-affirmation and trust in international relations: Evidence from Ukraine
Journal: PLoS ONE
Year: 2020

How can states with a history of recent armed conflict trust one another? Distrust between Ukraine and Russia aggravates security fears and limits hopes for a meaningful resolution of the bloodiest armed conflict in Europe since 1994. Hostility levels have risen dramatically between the populations of Ukraine and Russia after the events of 2013-2015. Political psychology offers two competing approaches to increase trust between the publics of different countries: appealing to an overarching, com