Evolution of the culture of defence over the last decade

Abstract

Since 1997, the IEEE (Spanish Institute for Strategic Studies) has commissioned the CIS to conduct its ”National defence and armed forces” survey. This contains, inter alia, the opinion of the Spanish public on matters related to the feeling and commitment to ‘Spanishness’, the perception of living in an insecure world or the degree of recognition Spanish society gives to its armed forces. The study of the time series of data allows public support for the armed forces to be assessed and to evaluate the effectiveness of efforts to bolster it. An overall analysis of the data shows a Spanish society with a highly positive opinion of its armed forces but with a diminished commitment to the values that they represent, a growing concern for its budget to be smaller, and a reduced sense of external threats. The enormous heterogeneity is the most notable feature of the Spanish society towards its armed forces and it is segmented by age, autonomous community and political ideology.