Relationship of Ethic of Autonomy, Community and Nationalism to Russians’ Foreign Policy Attitudes

Objectives. The aim was to study the association between moral foundations and Russians’ foreign policy attitudes. Background. There is a growing interest in the factors that determine attitudes towards other peoples and countries, but the foreign policy attitudes of citizens that determine their support of the respective state’s foreign policy remain insufficiently researched. This study examines the foreign policy attitudes in the context of the Moral foundations theory. We assume that militant internationalism is related to binding moral foundations (“Loyalty”, “Respect”, “Purity”) and nationalism, while cooperative internationalism probably is based on the individualizing moral foundations (“Care” and “Justice”). Study design. Correlation design was used, followed by structural linear modeling and analysis of mediation effects. Participants. 214 university students (average age 25.18, 20% men). Measurements. A blank survey was conducted using Moral Foundations Questionnaire by J. Graham et al., the questionnaire developed on the basis of Foreign Policy Attitudes Scales by T. Gravelle et al., and Civil Identity Scale from the International Social Survey. Results. The results of structural equation modeling have confirmed the indirect relation between binding moral foundations and militant internationalism mediated by the nationalism and the direct association between cooperative internationalism and individualizing moral foundations. We also revealed that individualizing moral foundations were inversely associated to nationalism and the related militant internationalism. Conclusions. Russians’ foreign policy attitudes are related with the characteristics of the moral sphere and nationalism: Binding moral foundations indirectly (through nationalism) support militant internationalism, while individualizing moral foundations support cooperative internationalism.

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