Political solidarity through action (and inaction): How international relations changed intracultural perceptions in Ukraine

Abstract

The present research sought to explain the mechanisms behind rival Ukrainian solidarity campaigns advocating protection of the minority Crimean Tatars in the immediate aftermath of Russia’s 2014 annexation of the Crimean peninsula. Adapting the social identity model of helping and solidarity we propose that political solidarity is a form of collective action in which allies can align their aspirational identities to the oppressed group’s political loyalties through a process of disidentification from powerful outgroups. We proposed and found supportive evidence ( N = 657) for the notion that both action (facilitation pathway) and inaction (inhibitory pathway) to support the Crimean Tatars were derived from disidentification from the European Union or the Russian-Federation-dominated Customs Union and are mediated by perception of the Crimean Tatars’ loyalties towards Russia and Ukraine. The findings provide initial evidence for a new understanding of political mobilization in support of third parties as a group-level emergent phenomenon in the context of identity threat.