The latest in the New Voices on Eurasia Series, introducing the DC policy community to the best “up and coming” scholars on Eurasia.
The Determinants of Assistance to Ukrainian and Syrian Refugees: Evidence from a Nationally-Representative Survey in Poland
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine displaced millions of people, resulting in the largest refugee crisis in Europe since WWII. Poland’s warm welcome of Ukrainian refugees contrasts sharply with its refusal to accommodate a much smaller number of Syrians in 2015. What explains this disparity in the treatment of Ukrainians and Syrians? What type of individuals help refugees and what type of refugees are most likely to be helped?
Volha Charnysh presents the results of an original nationally-representative survey conducted in the fall of 2022 in Poland, in collaboration with L. Peisakhin, N. Stoop, and P. van der Windt). The survey asked 2,500 respondents about their previous and future assistance to Ukrainian and Syrian refugees. Empathy came out as a key predictor of assistance.
Volha Charnysh is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at MIT and an Affiliate of the Center for European Studies at Harvard University. She received her Ph.D. in Government from Harvard University in May 2017. Her book project, Uprooted: How post- WWII Population Transfers Remade Europe, examines the long-run effects of forced migration in the aftermath of World War II in Poland and West Germany, synthesizing several decades of micro-level data collected during a year of fieldwork. Her other work examines the legacies of wartime violence and repression, the role of identity in state-building and economic development, and the intergenerational persistence of political attitudes and behavior.
Thursday, February 16, 2023, 4 – 5 PM EST (online & in-person)
