Governance During War: Evidence from a 2025 Survey in Ukraine

Why do Ukrainians support local governance during war, a crisis which necessitates a national mobilization of resources? While wartime patriotism might boost support for the government, the war effect does not explain the persistent variation in support for local governance across Ukraine (Rabinovych, Brik, et al., 2025; Rabinovych and Darkovich, 2022).

Sarah Wilson Sokhey argues that feelings of trust, representation, and positive memories about recent local projects matter most. Using original survey data from spring 2025, she finds that the high levels of support for local fiscal control in Ukraine are driven by feeling well represented at the local level not by trust nor by recent memories of local projects. Notably, support for local fiscal control does not appear to be contingent on the local severity of war nor perceptions of local corruption. Ukrainians appear to be motivated by a very practical consideration about whether their interests are being represented and not a general trust in their local leaders.

Organized by: Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies (IOS), “Denkraum Ukraine” at the University of Regensburg, financed by the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) through the funds from the Federal Foreign Office (AA)