Contrary to Vladimir Putin's geopolitical arguments to justify the 2022 large-scale invasion of Ukraine, the confrontation has not benefited Russia's position in the European balance of power, though it may bring significant gains to his personalist autocracy. This paper aims to shed light on the causes of Russia's military aggression by addressing the following research questions: (1) Why did Russia invade Ukraine? (2) How do wars benefit autocrats? I argue that the securitization of the West and Ukraine as existential threats to Russia has been mobilized by Putin as a paramount regime legitimation strategy, aiming to boost his popularity, justify the crackdown on critics and oppositionists, empower the security establishment and reinforce nationalism and the regime's ideological precepts, such as the the supremacy of Russian "traditional" values over Western "decadent" liberal values – reference by Kremlin ideologues to LGBTQIA+ movements and representative democracy. I draw on a multi-methods research design, including survey analysis, discourse analysis, legislative content and inferential statistics. The results show that wars can benefit autocrats in different manners. The regime's survival is also a realpolitik goal: Putin and his security establishment need a hostile West and a threatful Ukraine for self-legitimation.
Custom Dataset Terms
Use email button above to contact.
Our Community Norms as well as good scientific practices expect that proper credit is given via citation. Please use the data citation shown on the dataset page.
Custom Dataset Terms — the following Custom Dataset Terms have been defined for this dataset.
This file has already been deleted (or replaced) in the current version. It may not be edited.
Restricting limits access to published files. People who want to use the restricted files can request access by default. If you disable request access, you must add information about access to the Terms of Access field.
The selected file or files have already been published. Contact an administrator to change the embargo date or reason of the file or files.
The file will be deleted after you click on the Delete button.
Files will not be removed from previously published versions of the dataset.
Please select one or more files.
Share this dataset on your favorite social media networks.
Citations for this dataset are retrieved from Crossref via DataCite using Make Data Count standards. For more information about dataset metrics, please refer to the User Guide.
The selected file(s) may not be downloaded because you have not been granted access.
You may request access to the restricted file(s) by clicking the Request Access button.
The files selected are too large to download as a ZIP.
You can select individual files that are below the 100.0 MB download limit from the files table, or use the Data Access API for programmatic access to the files.
Please select a file or files to be downloaded.
The restricted file(s) selected may not be downloaded because you have not been granted access.
Click Continue to download the files you have access to download.
Are you sure you want to delete this dataset and all of its files? You cannot undelete this dataset.
Are you sure you want to delete this draft version? Files will be reverted to the most recently published version. You cannot undelete this draft.
Private URL can only be used with unpublished versions of datasets.
Are you sure you want to disable the Private URL? If you have shared the Private URL with others they will no longer be able to use it to access your unpublished dataset.
The file(s) will be deleted after you click on the Delete button.
This dataset contains restricted files you may not compute on because you have not been granted access.
Are you sure you want to deaccession? This is permanent and the selected version(s) will no longer be viewable by the public.
Are you sure you want to deaccession this dataset? This is permanent an it will no longer be viewable by the public.
Please select two versions to view the differences.
Please select a file or files for access request.
Embargoed files cannot be accessed. Please select an unembargoed file or files for your access request.
Select existing file tags or create new tags to describe your files. Each file can have more than one tag.
You need to Log In to request access.
This dataset is made available under the following terms. Please confirm and/or complete the information needed below in order to continue.
Upon downloading files the guestbook asks for the following information.
Account Information
Use the Download URL in a Wget command or a download manager to download this package file. Download via web browser is not recommended. User Guide - Downloading a Dataverse Package via URL
https://data.scielo.org/api/access/datafile/
Please confirm and/or complete the information needed below in order to request access to files in this dataset.
You will not be able to make changes to this dataset while it is in review.
Are you sure you want to republish this dataset?
Select if this is a minor or major version update.
This dataset cannot be published until SciELO Preprints is published by its administrator.
This dataset cannot be published until SciELO Preprints and SciELO Data are published.
Return this dataset to contributor for modification. The reason for return entered below will be sent by email to the author.
SciELO Data Support
Please fill this out to prove you are not a robot.
