- Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Aca...
- The Military Profession, Public Trust, and Publ...
The Military Profession, Public Trust, and Public Interest
This paper presents an international comparative survey on trust and interest in the officer’s profession in Europe in the context of the changes following the end of the Cold War and the new types of deployments and in the current evaluations that European elites give of it. The paper is based on a series of empirical studies carried out from 1990 to the present, and in particular on a survey conducted on present and future elites in eleven eleven twelve European countries in the period 2004–05.
Interesting cross-national comparison data emerge, revealing characteristics and attitudes that transcend national boundaries as well as others which appear particular to individual countries or groups of countries in accordance with broader geopolitical (Eastern Europe–Western Europe), religious (prevalently Protestant, Catholic, Christian Orthodox countries, etc.), or strictly political aggregations. The cultural differences between young people embarking on a military career and their generational peers in civilian universities seem significant as well. The gender gap is also examined. The resulting picture appears wide-ranging and complex.