The Russian invasion of Ukraine isn’t just playing out on the battlefield. It’s become a propaganda war, where both sides and their allies are seeking supporters, not just in the seats of government in international organizations, but also in debates in the media and online. Most of those discussions are happening in democracies, where these arguments can still legally take place. We look at where the world’s free countries and un-free ones stand on this conflict.
My undergraduate students (Merideth Baswell, Madison Chauvin, Parker Copeland, Roniya Elliott, Kenzie England, Colton Esposito, Trey Galbraith, Reecia Gault, Chase Hammock, Jackson Harwell, Myui Komatsu, Jay Manley, Emma McCoy, Lucy McCoy, Taylor Mellish, J.P. Moore, Sosuke Niki, Kenny Pameni, K. J. Parham, Noah Patterson, Jenna Pittman, Jayden Shivers, Amya Walker, Christiana Walker, and James Willingham) and I analyzed this very argument.
Where do the democracies stand in this conflict? To determine this, we use the internationally respected Freedom House dataset and what side the world’s countries took in a recent vote in the United Nations General Assembly.
Ukraine and its backers have pointed to Russia’s terrible record on human rights. Meanwhile, Russia and those supporting Vladimir Putin’s regime have argued that elections in Ukraine are overdue, a violation of the country’s constitution.
Freedom House’s evidence shows that Russia is a “Not Free” country in its respect for political rights and the civil liberties of its citizens. Meanwhile, Ukraine is considered “Partly Free” by their measure. Freedom House also codes what’s happening in the territories of Ukraine occupied by Russia. Their researchers rank those annexed regions run by Russia among the “worst of the worst, being among the 17 places with the “worst aggregate scores for political rights and civil liberties.”
My students and I looked at how more than 180 countries voted, or didn’t vote, in a United Nations resolution calling for an end to the occupation and a peaceful resolution to the conflict. The resolution in favor of Ukraine passed 94-20, with 77 abstaining or not voting.
These LaGrange College undergraduates gathered data for an Excel spreadsheet on how the countries voted and calculated average freedom scores for those U.N. members. We found that 59 free countries voted with Ukraine, while four (the U.S., Israel, Palau and the Marshall Islands) went with Russia. Another 18 free countries either abstained or didn’t vote.
Meanwhile, ten unfree countries threw in their lot with Ukraine, while 36 unfree countries didn’t vote. Another 14 countries considered “Not Free” backed Russia. The Partly Free countries were split, with 25 going with Ukraine, 23 abstaining or being absent from voting, and two going for Russia. With a 1 being free and a three being unfree, the average voting score for Ukraine supporters was a 1.5. For Russia, the average freedom score was a 2.5, not far from a full authoritarian measure (2.233 was the score for abstainers and non-voters).
Clearly, this is becoming an ideological conflict, where your choice of country to support depends on how important you see freedom. More than 70 percent of the world’s free countries back Ukraine, while less than five percent of free countries oppose Ukraine. The number of free countries taking Russia’s side was whittled down to a smaller percentage in a more recent vote, with only nine taking Russia’s side. The U.S. was the only free country siding with Russia, as the Marshall Islands voted for Ukraine, and both Israel and Palau abstained. The world is increasingly seeing this as a fight for freedom and is voting that way in the United Nations.
John A. Tures is a professor of political science at LaGrange College in LaGrange, Georgia. His views are his own. He can be reached at jtures@lagrange.edu. His “X” account is JohnTures2. Merideth Baswell, Madison Chauvin, Parker Copeland, Roniya Elliott, Kenzie England, Colton Esposito, Trey Galbraith, Reecia Gault, Chase Hammock, Jackson Harwell, Myui Komatsu, Jay Manley, Emma McCoy, Lucy McCoy, Taylor Mellish, J.P. Moore, Sosuke Niki, Kenny Pameni, K. J. Parham, Noah Patterson, Jenna Pittman, Jayden Shivers, Amya Walker, Christiana Walker, and James Willingham contributed to this article.