Ukraine’s new governing coalition recently announced its intention to pass a law against joining military alliances, which will fulfill Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych’s campaign promise to prevent Ukraine from becoming a member in NATO. The new president’s opponents in parliament argue that this new strategy may result in pushing Ukraine back into the Russian “sphere of influence” and out of the European fold.

However, Yanukovych’s move to ban Ukraine from joining NATO is not without a base of public support. A September 2009 survey by the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project, found that half of Ukrainians (51%) opposed their country’s admission to NATO, while only 28% favored such a step. Moreover, given the opposition to membership, it is not surprising that about half of Ukrainians (51%) gave NATO an unfavorable rating.

Views of membership in NATO vary by ethnicity and region. Ethnic Russians (74%) were far more likely to oppose admission to NATO than ethnic Ukrainians (46%). In terms of regional groupings, respondents living in the East (72%) and South (60%) — where the percentage of Russians tends to be higher than elsewhere in the country — were more likely to oppose joining NATO than were those living in the Central region (51%). And in the West a majority (59%) favored their country becoming part of NATO.

Outside of Ukraine, many European publics supported the country’s entry into NATO. Majorities in Poland (64%), Lithuania (58%), France (54%) and nearly half in Bulgaria (49%), Czech Republic (46%), and Spain (46%) favored Ukraine joining NATO. However, Germans and Italians disagreed — 53% in Germany and 42% of Italians opposed Ukraine’s membership in the military alliance.

The strongest opposition emanated from Russia, where more than seven-in-ten (72%) opposed Ukraine’s admission into NATO.

Closer Ties for Ukraine and Russia?

Just one day after the governing coalition’s declaration of opposition to NATO membership, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signaled his support by announcing a visit to Ukraine in May. Indeed, a closer relationship with Russia is likely to be well received by many Ukrainians. The Pew Research survey found that nearly half (46%) of Ukrainians said that Russia is a good influence on their country, and nearly six-in-ten Ukrainians (58%) cited Russia as their country’s most dependable ally

More recent polling in January 2010 by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) found Ukrainians expressing an overwhelmingly positive view of Russia — more than nine-in-ten (93%) said they had a good attitude towards Russia. When asked about what they would like to see for their country’s relationship with Russia, two-thirds (66%) believed that the countries “should be independent, but friendly states — with open borders, no visas and customs.” Another 22% of Ukrainians believed that the countries “should unite into one state.” Few Ukrainians (8%) wanted relations to be “the same as with other countries — with closed borders, visas and customs.”

However, Ukrainians still express some reservations when it comes to closer ties with Russia — especially on the issue of energy dependence. In the fall 2009 Pew Research study, more than seven-in-ten (73%) Ukrainians said they are worried about being too reliant on Russia for their energy needs, up from 63% in 2007.

In recent years, the opening session of the U.N. General Assembly has frequently produced controversy. In a 2006 speech to the Assembly, for example, Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez famously referred to then President George W. Bush as “the devil.” For his part, Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has used his turns at the podium to speak strongly against Israel and the United States. But controversies aside, the United Nations remains a quite popular institution throughout much of the world. Indeed, its image has improved in many nations over the last couple of years. This is especially true in the United States, where attitudes toward the U.N. are more positive than they have been since early in this decade.

Most Rate U.N. Favorably

A 25-nation Pew Global Attitudes survey, conducted in May and June of this year, found largely positive views toward the U.N. with majorities or pluralities in 19 of the 25 countries expressing a positive opinion. Moreover, ratings of the U.N. have grown more positive since 2007 in 12 of the 25 nations.

Europeans overwhelmingly give the U.N. favorable reviews. More than seven-in-ten in France (74%) and Poland (72%) offer a favorable opinion, as do majorities in Britain (67%), Germany (65%), Spain (61%) and Russia (56%).

The organization is also widely popular in the two African countries surveyed, Kenya (76% favorable) and Nigeria (71%), and to a lesser extent in two of the three Latin American nations included, Mexico (58%) and Brazil (52%). In Argentina, however, nearly half (45%) offer no opinion.

Many in Pakistan (42%) and India (27%) are also unable to give an opinion. Elsewhere in Asia, ratings are on balance positive, especially in South Korea and Indonesia both of which countries accord the U.N. a 79%-favorable rating, its highest marks on the survey.

In the Middle East, views are mixed. Most Lebanese give the organization positive ratings, although, as with many issues in Lebanon, opinions are sharply divided along religious lines, with 86% of Sunnis and 73% of Christians giving the U.N. a favorable rating, compared with only 19% of Shia Muslims.

Most Egyptians (56%) express a positive opinion. However, views in Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories tend to be negative. Positive ratings for the U.N. have become much more common since 2007 in both Egypt (+12 percentage points) and Jordan (+12 percentage points).

American Views of the U.N.

In no country, however, have ratings improved as much as in the United States. Two years ago, 48% of Americans held a favorable view of the U.N., compared with 61% today, the highest U.S. rating the U.N. has received since 2001, when a Pew Research Center for the People & the Press survey found that 77% of Americans held a positive view of the organization.

The partisan differences that have characterized American public opinion on this topic for the last few years remain, although the U.N.’s image has improved across party lines.

Democrats continue to be the most positive, with 73% expressing a favorable view, compared with six-in-ten independents and about half of Republicans (49%).

There is also an age gap on this question. Fully 70% of 18-29 year-olds have a positive view, up from 56% two years ago. More than six-in-ten (65%) of those ages 30-49 have a favorable opinion, up steeply from 46% in 2007. Older Americans are more lukewarm – 54% have a positive impression of the U.N., a modest seven-percentage-point rise since 2007.

Opinions of U.N. Linked to Views of Major Nations

In the U.S., ratings for the U.N. are also linked to ratings for some other key players in the international arena. Americans who have positive opinions of China and Russia also tend to give the U.N. good reviews, while those with unfavorable opinions of these major powers also tend to see the international body in a negative light. For example, 81% of those expressing a favorable view of China also have a favorable view of the U.N., compared with just 44% among those expressing a negative opinion about China.

Elsewhere in the world, a similar pattern often holds — those who hold positive views about the major powers in the international system also tend to assign positive ratings to the world’s leading international institution. For instance, attitudes toward the U.N. are often linked to attitudes about the world’s most powerful nation, the United States. Overall, across the 24 nations (other than the U.S.) included in the Pew Global Attitudes poll, ratings for the U.N. and the U.S. are correlated at the .72 level, suggesting a close relationship between perceptions of the U.N. and its host country.

In an assessment of the war in Afghanistan by the commander of U.S. and NATO forces, Gen. Stanley McChrystal stated a new strategy is needed to fight the Taliban. Although it was not addressed in the strategic review sent to both the Pentagon and NATO headquarters on Monday, it is widely anticipated that McChrystal will ask for more troops to deal with the situation in a separate request expected in a couple of weeks, a proposal that may face considerable opposition in many NATO countries.

While the 2009 Pew Global Attitudes survey of 25 nations found broad global support for President Barack Obama and his policy goals, the one notable exception was his decision to send additional troops to Afghanistan. (The possible troop increase proposed by McChrystal would be in addition to the earlier increase advocated by Obama and asked about in the survey.)

Significant opposition to troop increases was found in all NATO countries polled; at least half of those surveyed in Germany (63%), France (62%), Poland (57%), Canada (55%), Britain (51%) and Spain (50%) disapproved of sending more troops to Afghanistan.

In Turkey, an overwhelmingly Muslim nation and longtime NATO ally of the U.S., only 16% approve of a troop increase, while 49% disapprove. Given that Obama’s personal popularity was not able to translate into support for his Afghanistan policy in countries that have confidence in him on foreign policy, it is not surprising that opposition to his decision to send more troops was even greater in majority Muslim nations, where Obama is not as popular. For instance, large majorities in the Palestinian territories (84%), Lebanon (67%), Jordan (66%) and Egypt (64%) disapproved of sending more troops to Afghanistan.

In addition to opposing new troop commitments, many in NATO countries want troops withdrawn altogether. In France, Germany and Spain, opinion is almost evenly divided between those who support keeping troops in Afghanistan until the situation there has stabilized and those who want troops removed as soon as possible. However, in all three countries support for keeping troops has increased slightly since last year.

There has been little change in opinion in Britain, where 46% support keeping troops in Afghanistan and 48% want forces removed. Poles (30% keep troops, 57% remove troops) and Turks (15% keep troops, 63% remove troops) are overwhelmingly in favor of removing troops, but support for keeping them in Afghanistan is up slightly from 2008.

The survey, which was conducted in May-June, 2009, found that 57% of Americans endorsed the idea of keeping troops in Afghanistan, up seven percentage points from the 2008 Pew Global Attitudes survey. A similar number (54%) approved of Obama’s decision to send additional troops.

In recent weeks, the level of violence in Afghanistan has increased. Indeed, August was the deadliest month for American combat forces since the beginning of the war. Along with the uptick in violence, the war has received an increased level of media scrutiny. During the week of August 17, the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism found that the war in Afghanistan received its highest amount of news coverage since PEJ began its News Coverage Index in January 2007. In fact, in the previous three weeks, Afghanistan had received almost three times the media attention as the war in Iraq.

Recent polling suggests American support for troop increases in Afghanistan has fallen. A Washington Post poll conducted August 13-17 found only 24% of Americans favor an additional troop increase, while roughly twice as many (45%) want to decrease the number of troops in Afghanistan. The remaining respondents want to keep forces at their current level. A January Washington Post poll reported public sentiment more strongly in favor of troop increases.

When Ban Ki-moon of South Korea placed his left hand on the Charter of the United Nations and was sworn in as its eighth Secretary General, he assumed control of an organization viewed with dramatically varying degrees of respect, skepticism and indifference by the countries of the world, according to surveys conducted by the Pew Global Attitudes Project.

Ban is the first Asian in 35 years to head the United Nations. He replaces Secretary General Kofi Annan at a time when the UN appears poised to embrace major reform in the wake of growing discord between member nations, the oil-for-food scandal involving Iraq, and mounting criticism that its outmoded ways of doing business are not up to the challenges posed by a world riven by political, economic and sectarian divides.

“The dark night of distrust and disrespect has lasted far too long. We can begin by saying what we mean, and meaning what we say,” Ban told the members at his swearing-in ceremony. “My first priority will be to restore trust. I will seek to act as a harmonizer and bridge-builder.”

Ban was speaking about divisions of opinion within the UN General Assembly. But he could just as easily have been addressing public concerns about the UN in key member nations, according to surveys in 15 countries conducted in the spring of this year. Overall, majorities in nine countries had a favorable view of the UN. In three countries — all located in the broader Middle East — majorities rated the institution negatively while the reviews were mixed in three others.

Support for the United Nations was highest in Indonesia, where the UN played a key role in relief efforts in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami that devastated parts of that country in December 2004. Nearly eight-in-ten Indonesians (78%) said they held a favorable view of the United Nations while 18% said their view of the organization was unfavorable.

In the other Muslim countries surveyed, however, reviews of the UN were significantly less upbeat. Barely 30% of those interviewed in Jordan held a favorable view while 69% had an unfavorable impression, the highest level of disapproval in any of the 15 countries. Only 29% of Turks had a positive opinion, with just over half (51%) giving the UN negative marks. In Egypt, public opinion was divided: 49% had a favorable view but 51% had an unfavorable view. Slightly more than four-in-ten Pakistanis (42%) had a positive opinion, while 22% disapproved and 36% did not offer an opinion, easily the largest proportion of no opinion responses recorded in any of the surveys.

In neighboring India, a relatively large number of respondents (26%) also expressed no opinion about the United Nations; those expressing a view split nearly evenly, 39% favorable, 35% unfavorable. Elsewhere in Asia, views were more mixed. A 56%-majority held a favorable opinion in Japan, a view shared by a 53%-majority in China.

The publics of key U.S. allies in Western Europe were broadly favorable toward the UN, the surveys revealed. Large majorities in France (72%), Germany (68%), Great Britain (65%) and Spain (60%) said they had a positive view of the organization.

Russian views of the UN, however, have dimmed over time. In 1991, with the Iron Curtain gone and the Soviet Union crumbling, Russians embraced the UN: Fully 80% rated the institution favorably. By 2004, only 60% held a positive view, and today just under half (49%) say they have a favorable impression.

In Africa, about two-in-three Nigerians (68%) expressed a positive opinion of the United Nations. As is the case with many issues in Nigeria, views about the UN split sharply along religious lines — more than eight-in-ten (82%) Nigerians Christians held a positive view, compared with only 53% of Muslims.

Mixed View in the United States

American public opinion about the United Nations is divided, although still generally positive. Fifty-one percent of those interviewed in the U.S. expressed a favorable view while 38% had an unfavorable impression. American views of the UN have grown more negative in recent years — throughout the 1990s, large majorities said they had a favorable opinion of the institution, and in September 2001, just before the 9/11 attacks, a record-high 77% gave the UN positive marks. By March 2004, however, only 55% held a favorable view.

Support for the UN breaks down in expected ways along partisan and ideological lines, with Democrats and political liberals the most favorable and Republicans and conservatives the most disapproving. A majority of conservative Republicans (55%) expressed disapproval of the UN while an even larger majority of liberal Democrats (63%) expressed support.

Two-in-three people under the age of 30 had a positive view of the UN while opinion among those 50 and older was divided. A slight gender gap emerges on this issue — men are roughly divided between those with a positive (49%) and a negative (44%) opinion of the UN, while women see the institution favorably (53% favorable, 32% unfavorable).

The survey also found that Americans with a favorable attitude toward the United Nations expressed significantly more positive views of other countries than those who held anti-UN sentiments. For example, two-thirds of those with a favorable view of the UN also had a positive view of China, compared with 41 percent of those with a negative attitude toward the United Nations. And the gap in views about France is even larger: 68% of those with a positive view of the UN also see France in a positive light, compared with only 35% of those who hold a negative view of the UN.

When President George W. Bush is greeted by his host, President Vladimir Putin at this weekend’s G8 summit meeting in St. Petersburg, neither leader can feel secure in the confidence placed in their leadership by the citizens of major countries around the globe. To be sure, Putin can take some comfort in the 82% level of confidence he inspired among the people of Russia in the latest Pew Global Attitudes Project survey. By comparison, Bush scored only a 51% confidence rating among those of his own countrymen who registered an opinion. But, with a few exceptions, neither man can point to substantial levels of support elsewhere in the world.

Outside of Russia, Putin scores his best confidence mark in China, where nearly three-in-four who offer an opinion say they have either “a lot” or “some” confidence in him to do the right thing regarding world affairs. Slightly less than half of the Chinese public (48%) says the same of President Bush.

And despite the long history of armed enmity between the two countries, 52% of Germans now express confidence in Putin. By contrast, only 26% of Germans place their confidence in Bush’s handling of international affairs.

Among those registering an opinion, Bush finds his highest levels of support in India (62%) and in Nigeria (54%) — the Nigerian vote owing much to the high level of confidence (86%) he inspires among Christians in that country. Putin can also point to majority — if somewhat lower — support in India (56%), but only a 37% rating in Nigeria.

Elsewhere in the Muslim world, neither leader scores well, with confidence in President Bush ranging downward from 21% in Indonesia through 8% in Egypt to a rock-bottom 3% in Turkey. President Putin does slightly better in Indonesia (34%) and Egypt (21%), though he too hits a low point in Turkey, with a small 12% confidence rating.

Indeed, it is striking that among the 15 countries surveyed on this question, the Turkish people almost uniformly express the lowest level of confidence in those among the G8 leaders about whom the question was asked in the 2006 survey. Perhaps more surprising, the citizens of Spain also register very low levels of confidence across the board, ranging from a high of 49% confidence in Germany’s new Chancellor Angela Merkel, to a mere 11% in Putin, and a low of 7% in Bush.

Among the other G8 leaders tested, newcomer Merkel does best both at home (78%) and among her Western European neighbors. In another ironic twist of history, fully 81% of the French trust her leadership in world affairs. For their part, the Germans return the compliment: While French President Jacques Chirac wins the confidence of only a 56%-majority of his countrymen, his world leadership is applauded by 69% of German citizens.

Chirac also scores better than the other leaders in the predominately Muslim countries covered by the survey, registering the confidence of a notable 51% in Jordan, 50% in Egypt and 45% in Indonesia. By comparison, Bush, Putin and British Prime Minister Tony Blair win little trust among these countries.

For his part, Blair secures the confidence of nearly six-in-ten (59%) among his own country’s public that he will do the right thing regarding world affairs — though only 31% of the British extend such confidence to President Bush. Blair, however, earns top-level trust among Americans, 76% of whom have strong or at least partial confidence in his handling of global issues, substantially more than the number of Americans expressing confidence in their own president.

Apart from Bush, Blair is also the “recognition leader” among Americans substantial percentages of whom, as seen in the “DK” column in the table, are unable to evaluate or, in some cases even identify, other leaders in the Western world.

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