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Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has led to a shift of public opinion in Germany on collective defense: reluctance towards the defense of NATO's eastern flank has given way to majority support for military efforts to reassure NATO's eastern members in the face of Russian aggression. Against the background of the war, which factors are driving this shift in peoples' alliance solidarity? An in-depth analysis of representative population surveys from 2021 and 2022 shows that the perception of Russia as a security threat is the key factor, yet it is only part of a more complex explanation involving peoples' strategic postures and issue-specific knowledge as well. Contrary to common belief, a free-riding mentality turns out to be irrelevant. The empirical findings shine light on Germany's reaction to Russia's war against Ukraine and add to our understanding of the societal foundations of alliance solidarity in Germany and other NATO countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The German Bundeswehr, like other NATO forces, seeks to recruit more women in order to improve its gender balance and to meet its personnel needs. However, previous research on military recruitment has paid little attention to women. Given that the (German) military is still a male-dominated organization, we argue that women's opinion regarding the realization of gender equality in the military may very well be the Achilles heel of recruiting women. Based on the assumption that women value gender equality in the work environment, we test the hypothesis that women are more attracted to the military as a (potential) employer, the more they think the military has achieved gender equality. A multivariate analysis of nationally representative survey data from Germany from 2019 provides empirical evidence to support this hypothesis. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perceptions of threat from Russia's military activities in Ukraine and President Trump's critical attitude towards NATO have put the idea of a common European army on the agenda of European politics. Do these strategic threat perceptions also influence public support for the creation of a common European army? Previous research has largely overlooked strategic threat perceptions as individual-level determinants of public support for a common European army. This article explores the empirical relationship between strategic threat perceptions and support for a common European army at the individual level of analysis with representative German survey data from 2018. The multivariate analysis shows that perceiving Russia's military activities in Ukraine as a threat to Germany's security, and U.S. foreign and security policy as a threat to the cohesion of NATO significantly increases support for the creation of a common European army, even when the influence of numerous other determinants is controlled for. The findings highlight the importance of considering strategic threat perceptions in future analyses of public opinion on European defence cooperation and integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research reveals a stereotypical media portrayal of Olympic athletes [Bissel and Holt, ‘Who's Got Game?’]. Using panel data from the 2004 and the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, this study aims at identifying potential trends in visual representation of athletes. The analysis of online visuals of three media powers, Brazil (Latin America), Germany (Europe) and the USA (North America) allows for the investigation of culture-specific vs. global trends and for the identification of convergence/divergence forces across time in media. Differences between male and female representation with respect to category of sport, dynamic, camera angle, number of people, emotion and level of body exposure are assessed with Mann–WhitneyU-tests. The findings suggest that although the web media reinforces some of the gender stereotypes, across the investigated time, an improvement towards gender evenness as well as a cross cultural convergence of athletes' portrayal is present. While some gender disparities still exist, the Internet seems to establish worldwide gender equity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]