| Summary/Abstract |
The scale and global consequences of the Ukraine crisis do not allow even
countries that are not directly involved in the standoff to ignore it. Most
members of the international system have to respond to the current events
and formulate their position on the conflict. When analyzing these positions,
the epistemic community tries to explain what stands behind different
reactions to the crisis. The focus of academic work varies from the attitude
of a single country to cross-country comparisons. This paper, pertaining to
the latter category, presents a coordinate system to map the international
reaction to the Ukraine crisis, with special attention to African states. Using
the methods of cluster, correlation, and regression analyses, the authors
present an overall picture of the international reaction to the crisis over
time and highlight factors that can influence the positions of states. The
results show that the positions of African states cannot be easily explained
by material factors, but are rather the consequence of political choice, and
hence are subject to change. African states gravitate towards a neutral
position to stay equidistant from both sides in the confrontation. The
authors conclude that assertive attempts by the great powers to persuade
African states to solidarize with their positions may prove abortive.
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