Hail to the War Princess: Security Crisis and Gendered Dynamics of Executive Leadership in Central and Eastern Europe

Abstract

In 15 nations within the Central and Eastern European (CEE) region, at least one woman has risen to the apex of domestic political power through her election to one of these dual executive positions. The pertinence of war in Europe, however, raises immediate questions as to the context within which these women govern. Previous literature indicates that constituents find male government officials to be more competent when dealing with issues of security (Lawless, 2004; Kang and Kim, 2020), while populations often prefer men's leadership during crisis, aligning the traditional traits of leadership with masculinity (Kang and Kim, 2020). Given the rise, stagnation, and eventual exponential escalation of security crisis in Central and Eastern Europe over the last decade, how do women executives approach highly masculinized crises so as to avoid political disadvantage relative to their male counterparts? I argue that high levels of NATO cohesion in the region have led to a security policy consensus, which minimizes gendered pressures on women executives during security crisis through a universally accepted set of policy prescriptions. I utilize a mixed methods approach, combining OLS regression analysis and short case studies to examine the policies and political outcomes of women leaders during the Russian invasion of Crimea and full-scale invasion of Ukraine. I find evidence that women leaders experience better political outcomes when they advance pro-NATO policy positions in countries where there is a security consensus, but face criticism and political punishment where either of these conditions is not met.