Responding to broken relations

Russia, Russians and Norway’s Russia policies in Norwegian public opinion after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine

Abstract

This article examines the effects of various forms of linkage on public attitudes towards foreign relations. Focusing on Norway, it analyses attitudes towards Russia, Russians and Norway’s Russia policy following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Rather than assuming a single continuum of pro- or anti-Russian sentiment, the article explores whether and how geographical, personal, informational and interest-driven linkages are associated with distinct attitudinal dimensions. Drawing on a nationally representative survey, we first use Principal Component Analysis to identify the underlying structure of Russia-related attitudes. Four dimensions emerge: geopolitical outlooks, attitudes towards ordinary Russians, support for distancing from Russia, and security threat perceptions. In a second step, the analysis shows that linkage plays a limited role in explaining geopolitical outlooks, which appear largely insulated from individual-level connections and experiences with Russia. By contrast, it is more strongly associated with attitudes towards ordinary Russians, support for distancing from Russia, perceptions of security threats, and the likelihood of 
expressing uncertainty. These findings highlight that different types of linkage do not have a uniform effect across different aspects of foreign policy opinion.