Replication Data for: ‘Wars of Others’: National Cleavages and Attitudes towards External Conflicts

Why do individuals sympathize with others’ wars, an antecedent of the decision to become a foreign fighter? By collecting original public opinion data from Lebanon, in 2015, and Turkey in 2017, about the actors of conflict in Syria, we test the argument that an ethno-religious cleavage at home shapes the proclivity of individuals to support others’ wars. Individuals may perceive a war abroad as endangering political and social balance of power at home—and hence own survival. Therefore, when transnational identities map onto a national cleavage, as in the Sunni–Shia cleavage in Lebanon, and Turk – Kurd cleavage in Turkey, individuals are more disposed to show sympathy for others’ wars both to help their kin and to protect the balance of power at home. Our findings imply that efforts to end the trend toward citizens becoming foreign fighters must start at home by mending the relations between ethnic and religious groups.

个体为何会同情他国战事？这一态度是做出外籍参战者（foreign fighter）决策的前置影响因素。本研究通过收集2015年黎巴嫩、2017年土耳其关于叙利亚冲突各方的原创民调数据，检验了"国内宗教族群裂痕（ethno-religious cleavage）会影响个体支持他国战事倾向"这一核心论点。研究认为，个体可能将境外战事视为对本国政治与社会权力平衡乃至自身生存的威胁。因此，当跨国身份与国内族群裂痕相契合时——例如黎巴嫩的逊尼派-什叶派裂痕、土耳其的土耳其族-库尔德族裂痕，个体更易对他国战事表达同情，此举既是为了援助同族同胞，也是为了维护本国的权力平衡。本研究结果表明，若要遏制公民沦为外籍参战者的趋势，需从国内着手，通过修复族群与宗教群体间的关系来实现。